Gorillaz-collaborator Pusha T said last week that he was told to imagine the animated group's new album Humanz as "a party for the end of the world, like if Trump were to win.” Speaking in a new interview with Q, Damon Albarn has repeated that sentiment while explaining a little more about his thought process while creating the record.
“The three tenets for this record were pain, joy, urgency,” Albarn is quoted as saying. “I told everyone to imagine you’re in America after the inauguration and it’s the worst-case scenario: how would you feel that night? Let’s make a party record about the world going fucking nuts.”
Jamie Hewlett, the comic book artist who creates the visuals for Gorillaz, did, however, dampen the political aspect of the upcoming release. He said it's “not a statement about Trump”. Instead, he said, Humanz looks at a “world in which he could get elected.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Albarn revealed that Sade, Morrissey, and Dionne Warwick turned down guest appearances on the album, while Hewlett said that a 10-episode Gorillaz TV show is currently in the works.
Gorillaz released new song “Let Me Out" last week. Mavis Staples and Pusha T are featured on the new track.
Read a preview of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's Q interview here.
