The story behind one new Gorillaz song, featuring multiple collaborators and two “upper-echelon old farts.”
IT’S BEEN SEVEN years since the virtual hip-hop band Gorillaz last released an album, which isn’t that long considering the labor that goes into one. Their latest record, Humanz, is meant to seem like the work of four cartoon characters, but the business of actually making it fell to Damon Albarn, the sometime Blur front man who produces the music and wrangles the guest vocalists, and Jamie Hewlett, the illustrator who draws the characters and creates visuals for each song. For “We Got the Power,” the upbeat anthem that closes Humanz, they enlisted Jehnny Beth of the band Savages; rapper singer D.R.A.M.; and, most notably, Albarn’s former nemesis, Noel Gallagher of Oasis.
THE SONG
DAMON ALBARN: It started on March 23 of 2016 when I was given a Casio MT-40 keyboard on my birthday. I’ve got hundreds of keyboards, but I was particularly excited about this one because it has the same sound as those very classic ’80s reggae tunes. I made a demo, and came up with the line “We got the power to be loving each other.” I’d always promised Noel Gallagher he could be on this record. I thought it might be cute, the idea of us singing about the power to love each other. Of course, no one’s asked Liam Gallagher what he thinks about the song yet. No doubt he’d have a fantastic one-liner about what a bunch of knob heads we are.
Denne historien er fra May 1–14, 2017-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 1–14, 2017-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Enchanting and Exhausting
Wicked makes a charming but bloated film.
Nicole Kidman Lets Loose
She's having a grand old time playing wealthy matriarchs on the verge of blowing their lives up.
How Mike Myers Makes His Own Reality
Directing him in Austin Powers taught me what it means to be really, truly funny.
The Art of Surrender
Four decades into his career, Willem Dafoe is more curious about his craft than ever.
The Big Macher Restaurant Is Back
ON A WARM NIGHT in October, a red carpet ran down a length of East 26th Street.
Showing Its Age
Borgo displays a confidence that can he only from experience.
Keeping It Simple on Lower Fifth
Jack Ceglic and Manuel Fernandez-Casteleiro's apartment is full of stories but not distractions.
REASON TO LOVE NEW YORK
THERE'S NOT MUCH in New York that has staying power. Every other day, a new scandal outscandals whatever we were just scandalized by; every few years, a hotter, scarier downtown set emerges; the yoga studio up the block from your apartment that used to be a coffee shop has now become a hybrid drug front and yarn store.
Disunion: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
A Rift in the Family My in-laws gave me a book by a eugenicist. Our relationship is over.
Gwen Whiting
Two years after a mass recall and a bacterial outbreak, the founder of the Laundress is on cleanup duty.
