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May 3, 2019 1:40 AM
#1
| I feel like the album isn't as appreciated as the other albums. I want to discuss the songs within it and understand how they construct the themes of the album and how they fit within the themes of the previous albums. |
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May 3, 2019 1:40 AM
#2
| I think some of the tracks weren't recognized as well as others because most of them didn't have visuals. I liked Out of Body's visuals from the live Humanz concert which can still be found on You Tube. I think they should have added some of the concert visuals to the tracks. People want more singing of 2-D because they like picturing him singing in their heads and it increases the chance that the tracks he sings in will be made into music videos. I don't think every track should be made into music videos because it would create more constriction on the performers and Damon Albarn; they can't improvise or express their personalities as much and there are already enough songs with music videos that they have to be in sync with. It should also be noted that Damon Albarn is not only a vocalist but also an instrumentalist and composer which is mirrored by his fictional band; the album shouldn't be criticized for the lack of 2-D vocals instead the tracks should be compared to music their collaborators produce on their own to see the influence of the Gorillaz in these tracks. |
May 3, 2019 1:41 AM
#3
| The first criticism I want to address is the politics of the album. A lot of people think this album is attacking Trump and find the censoring of his name to contradict this purpose. To fully understand the politics of the album we have to delve into the context of what Damon experienced between The Fall and Humanz. Before the production of Humanz began, Damon finished the Blur album The Magic Whip which is about two cities where people aren't allowed to express their political discontent through music: Hong Kong and Pyongyang. I think this experience was a wake up call for him since he grew up in a country where he is allowed to express his political discontent through music and now feels that he took for granted that freedom. This might explain why most of the tracks in the Humanz are created with collaborators (and why the background visuals for Sleeping Powder was footage of North Korea); Damon wanted to give the voice to the marginalized and allow them to express their political discontent. This desire might have overshadowed the need to make the music consistent with the Gorillaz lore; Damon came up with the lyrics for his various collaborators but not all of them were used since some of the collaborators turned him down. The songs that weren't made due to the declination were probably the missing pieces that would have made the album more cohesive. Now getting back to the topic of Trump, I don't think the album is attacking Trump but rather confronting people who share the values of Trump or just complacent with the idea that the election isn't going to affect them. I think what the album is trying to say if you are going after success at the cost of others or remain apathetic to people who are being selectively persecuted by injustice, your home is just as likely to fall under authoritarianism just like North Korea and Hong Kong. I think maybe if Damon was a bit more open about his experience in North Korea and Hong Kong and his fears with the audience, Jamie Hewlett, and the collaborators, I think this album would have been more well received. Jamie could've made it all work out with Russel Hobbs experiences in North Korea giving him a wake up call to not be complacent with the problems in his home country. Attacking people's complacent attitudes in letting a useless celebrity run their country is a perfect extension to the Gorillaz Reject False Icons Campaign. Overall I think this album is coherent with the bands core outlook but miscommunication kept the album from reaching its full potential of being another favorite for some of the fans. I plan to go over the problems critics have with the songs next. |
May 3, 2019 1:42 AM
#4
| I am going to start with the music video that came up on the night of Trump's inauguration: Hallelujah Money. The thing I notice about most of Gorillaz songs dealing with personal and political issues is that they focus on someone the audience can sympathize with. For example, Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head allows the audience to sympathize with the happy folk who represent the victims of U.S. foreign policy and Dirty Harry allows the audience to sympathize with the soldier who just wants to dance and the kids who need a gun to keep themselves among. However who are we exactly sympathizing with in Hallelujah Money? No one was yet a victim to the Trump administration when the song was on air. I think the song could have at least have the viewers sympathize with the Trump supporters, but based on its placement in the album the ones we are sympathizing with are the collaborators? Well I guess it makes sense because the collaborators in their tracks are suffering because of the lack of empathy which Benjamin Clementine is eulogizing as "the root of all evil." I think the weakness of the song is how much it relies on the rest of the tracks in the album. I think the song could use some chorus that represents what fuels Trump supporters discontent with the state of the country and make the eulogy of Benjamin seem like an answer to the chorus. As for 2-D or at least Murdoc, why is he concerned with the direction the country seems to be taking? Based on the lore, Murdoc made a deal with the devil and the boogieman to become successful so why is he any better than the Trump supporters? I feel like this idea could have been developed through some infighting between the band members or through Murdoc talking about his regrets of not having enough faith in his fellow band members or the people around him (the collaborators) when making the deals with the boogieman leading to the troubles they face in Plastic Beach. Instead of being forgotten, this song could have led to more discussions of the direction this country is taking. I thought the visuals were actually insightful when you take the time to learn about the context of each one. I found the context of the visuals through Genius lyrics (https://genius.com/Gorillaz-hallelujah-money-lyrics). There is footage of the animated adaptation of Animal Farm which was funded by the CIA with the intent to combat Communism which was feared as a threat to Democracy. There is also footage of a psychedelic cartoon of the US bicentennial which celebrates 200 years of Democracy after the declaration of independence. These visuals can be paired to make the questions: Is Democracy still safe right now? What does it take to destroy Democracy? Did we take for granted this Democracy after it survived for so long? A footage of Theremin is shown presenting the theremin, one of the first electronic instruments ever created, from the documentary Electro Moscow. I think the reasoning of why this footage was included in the video is explained during Mr. Jam's interview with 2-D and Murdoc. When Murdoc is questioned about Trump, he freaks out to emulate how some people freaked out when Trump became president. 2-D calms Murdoc down by using the sound of theremin and when paired with 2-D's quote, "Everything will be all right in the end, and if it's not all right then it's not the end" the inclusion of the footage makes more sense (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkyA41YUo7I). Even in a place that lacks democracy or the freedom to self-express like the Soviet Union, there will also be someone like Theremin who will create something that the people in power find useless but other people can use as an asset to express themselves and attempt to turn the world for the better. The footage of the 2-D cos-player and the footage of Clint Eastwood from the Dollars Trilogy can also be paired. Clint Eastwood plays as the "Man with No Name" which allows people to fill in their name and feel as if they are the protagonist with the same likable traits (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_No_Name). People like to dress up as 2-D because people like to be like him. I think what Jamie is trying to say is that these same drives are what drives the Trump supporters to support Trump: they want to imitate his success. Finally it's not surprising that Jamie included footage from two pieces of horror. One is the clown prank video where people dress up as clowns and scare random people for their own selfishness. Scaring people for their own selfishness is associated with how Trump rallies his support. The other is a 1960s horror movie that criticizes the culture of conformity, gender roles, and unfair treatment of rape victims (http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/villageofthedamned/). I think we can see that Jamie appreciates horror that enlightens people rather than horror that regresses people. Together these visuals create a powerful collage that shows that humanity's greatest power is the power to create and choose what they want to value. Which allows for this song to make a nice transition to We Got the Power. |
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