By Elena Wilson

Humanz is the fifth Gorillaz studio album. It’s mostly centered around politics and mainly covers the topic of Trump’s America. Damon Albarn, the creator of Gorillaz, said in an interview that the theme of the album is, “A night where everything that you believed in was turned on its head”. It also delves into problems like police brutality and racism in the songs “Ascension” and “Let Me Out”, and it even dips into some of the Seven Deadly Sins like lust and greed. The album actually foreshadowed Trump’s win, as it was written months before the election. The album includes over 16 featured artists and has four singles. Humanz, like many of Gorillaz’ albums such as Plastic Beach and Demon Dayz, tells a possible end-of-the-world like story caused by human error. The album includes many genres such as rap, pop, and even reggae making it very diverse.

I find it quite funny that Gorillaz covered Trump’s presidency considering Damon Albarn is British, but because he went over a variety of problems, recent and old he covered the topic well and added to its authenticity. After the intro comes the first song and single “Ascension” which features Vince Staples. Ascension automatically sets the armageddon theme for the rest of the album with the first line, “You are now tuned into the tomb of Jehovah”, which coupled with sirens, helps depict a sense of danger. Staples raps about discrimination and racism to the frantic and boisterous beat, which is full of percussion and ominous chords. In this song and others throughout the album, the names of political figures are censored to not give them any extra attention.

The harrowing mood that was left with “Ascension” lightens with the next song “Strobelite”. Although the song talks about the stubbornness of society and how we want to live in the center of attention, its upbeat tempo and smooth vocals allow the song to appear lighthearted and adds to its catchiness. From “Strobelite” the album moves to the second single “Saturnz Barz” which features Jamaican singer and songwriter Popcaan.

“Saturnz Barz” is perhaps the most unique song on the album because of Popcaan’s reggae-style rap. The song is also pretty hard to decipher for this reason. Popcaan talks mostly about his personal history and the song hints a bit at some Gorillaz lore. “Saturnz Barz” seems to be about wanting to be successful and its consequences. Popcaan raps “Mi laugh and collect those trophy, because mi deserve everything weh music gives mi, boy” stating that he deserves all the awards he gets from his music, and “All my life mi dream fi own house, land, cars, and bikes”. He’s dreamt of this moment for a while. While Popcaan talks about the positives, in the chorus and break, 2-D, the band’s lead singer, focuses more on negatives, like having debts and breaking hearts.

The track “Submission” features Detroit rapper Danny Brown and Kelela. This song is my personal favorite because of its bouncy beat and Kelela’s rich and powerful tone. Its soulfulness is captivating and blends in nicely with the mood. However, once again, although it sounds positive, the song actually has a darker meaning. Brown raps about how “I can’t take care of no grown man” and “All comes down to the mighty dollar”. Submission talks about greed and how you need money to survive in this society. While he talks about his financial struggle, Kelela implies that their relationship is being ruined because of it. Brown mentions how all of the struggles are chipping away at his heart which is why Kelela sounds so desperate while singing.

One of, if not the most depressing track on the album is “Busted and Blue” which references back to “Saturnz Barz” by using the line “all my life” in the chorus. It talks about how technology is overrunning society, and how we can’t live without it because we always want to be kept in the loop, but because we are so attached to technology, we have forgotten what life was like before we had access to it. This problem is mentioned multiple times throughout the album and in previous albums. It’s clear that it’s a topic that Albarn feels strongly about. “Busted and Blue” is eerie and slow, not a shred of positivity anywhere in the lyrics, tone, or tempo.

Humanz ends with “We Got the Power”. “We Got the Power” is almost drastically different from the rest of the album because it is genuinely positive and very upbeat. “We Got the Power” talks about how we can persevere and face today’s problems no matter how daunting. Although it is so different from the rest of the tracks, it was a good move to end the album on a more positive note and clear it of its depressing mood. The album is a rollercoaster of emotions and stories and is a masterpiece. Humanz is definitely one of the best albums of 2017 and was a great comeback by Gorillaz.