‘Let Me Out’ Ranked as No. 1 New Gorillaz Single

By Thomas Murga

British virtual project Gorillaz, is a band that you may remember from their hit singles “Feel Good, Inc.,” “Clint Eastwood,” and “DARE,” but now the group is looking to add a couple more hits to that list. The group virtually consists of the members 2-D on lead vocals and keyboards, Murdoc Niccals on bass guitar and backing vocals, Noodle on guitar, keyboard and backing vocals, and Russel Hobbs on drums and percussion. Gorillaz is the brain-child of musician Damon Albarn and comic-book artist Jamie Hewlett. This group is something special because their forte are collaborations, as shown by these five new singles from their upcoming album “Humanz.”

Saturnz Barz (ft. Popcaan)

While this song is far from bad, I feel like Jamaican deejay, singer/songwriter, Popcaan’s patois doesn’t truly mend well with the beat of the song, but the chorus with 2-D is definitely unforgettable, leaving behind a melancholy image of a gambler lost in his ways. There’s nothing about this song that makes it truly special in my eyes, but it’s not bad by any means.

We Got The Power (ft. Jehnny Beth)

CHEESE FEST ONCOMING! This is easily the cheesiest song of 2017, hands down. If this list was least to most cheesy, this song would be on the top of the list. But it’s not so, here it is, second to last. The song is adorable in its own right, but holy crap the hook is just… dreadful I mean, “We got the power to be loving each other / No matter what happens, we’ve got the power to do that” Jehnny Beth, lead singer and lyricist of English rock band, Savages, vibrato doesn’t really pick up the ‘80s vibe that this song is putting down. It isn’t unbearably bad but just prepares for the most un-Gorillaz song ever.

Andromeda (ft. D.R.A.M.)

Wow, I really love this song. I mean, D.R.A.M. and 2-D’s voices mend SO WELL. However, sometimes it’s a little hard to distinguish which one of the two is singing which part. There is still debate as to which person is singing during the bridge. The instrumental gives off a feeling of nostalgia, while the lyrics confirm a love-lost story arc, with Damon writing about the realization that people are dying around him. This song is just so the ’90s that I can’t help but groove every time it comes on shuffle. There’s just something so sad about the way that the bridge is sung, “Make it for the best times / Growing pains, good times / Good times, good times / Good times, good times / Good times, good times.” I can’t help but feel for this song.

Ascension (ft. Vince Staples)

Talk about the unexpected. With Californian rapper, Vince Staples taking the wheel on this song, “Ascension” takes a political turn for the better. The song’s comedic hook of, “The sky’s falling, baby / Drop that *** ‘fore it crash (Higher)” references the biblical title of the song and the current political state of America. The song’s upbeat alternative hip-hop style is super fun to dance to, but taking the time to pay attention to the lyrics tells a different story of the everyday hardships of people of color. Vince ends the song with some very bold lyrics, which are meant to leave a very haunting image in the mind of the listener, “I’m just playing, baby, this the land of the free / Where you can get a Glock and a gram for the cheap / Where you can live your dreams long as you don’t look like me / Be a puppet on a string, hanging from a ******* tree”

Let Me Out (ft. Pusha T & Mavis Staples)

If you’ve ever wanted to hear the perfect collaboration of artists, look no further than “Let Me Out.” The fifth and most recent of the singles features strong, politically-driven verses from GOOD Music president and New York rapper Pusha T, and a religiously-inspired chorus from none other than American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist Mavis Staples. The song was written as a cry of desperation in Trump’s America that plays with religious imagery as a source of perverted salvation. The simple, yet hard-hitting beat is just enough to turn this song into the protest that it truly is. The song was written approximately a year before the president was even decided. In an interview with Beats 1, collaborator Pusha T said, “Spring 2016, we were in London, and they were like, ‘Yo, the Gorillaz have this record.’ … It was no hesitation on my end. When I get over there, Damon begins to tell me to conceptualize the album as a party for the end of the world, like if Trump were to win. … I didn’t want to think about it, but that did give me a very colorful backdrop … I wrote from the perspective of this day … from the perspective of a Trump win. So when this shit really happened, I was like, ‘Wait a minute.‘ And then I started wondering, ‘What kind of a crystal ball does this guy have?’” This song perfectly and tastefully summarizes the state of America at this point in time, and that’s what makes this song the best of the Gorillaz’s new singles.