Gorillaz are back today with a brand new single called “Baby Queen,” the latest sample of what’s to come on their upcoming album Cracker Island.
The backstory behind “Baby Queen” takes us back a couple decades. As Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn recalled in that now-infamous LA Times profile earlier this year, the song is inspired by a real-life incident when a Thai princess attended a Blur concert in 1997, sat in a throne next to the venue’s mixing board.
“‘Song 2’ started and she stood on her throne and stage-dived into the crowd,” Albarn said. “The reason I’ve written a song about it is because I had a dream about this princess very recently; she’d grown up and we spent time in my dream together, her as a woman.”
Over a swirling, psychedelic instrumental, “Baby Queen” finds Albarn (as his Gorillaz alter-ego 2-D) in this dream: “She kept me in a Polaroid/ That was pinned up on her wall/ Under Garuda’s mirror lights/ She takes flight/ Yeah the kid’s alright,” he sings. Listen to “Baby Queen” below.
Cracker Island is out February 24th. Gorillaz previously previewed the album by sharing its Thundercat-aided title track and “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala.
Gorillaz recently wrapped up a North American tour, and we recapped its opening night in Vancouver back in September. It culminated into a star-studded event at their Los Angeles show, which hosted special guests onstage including Beck, Tame Impala, Thundercat, and more.