Damon Albarn Dissects Gorillaz’s “Andromeda” on “Song Exploder”: Listen

Damon Albarn guests on the latest episode of “Song Exploder,” the podcast where Hrishikesh Hirway asks artists to discuss how their songs were made. Albarn breaks down the new Gorillaz track “Andromeda,” featuring D.R.A.M., who also makes an appearance on the podcast. The episode includes a scrapped version of the track with D.R.A.M. on lead vocals instead of Albarn; Albarn says the song went through numerous other versions, including one with Christine & the Queens. At the end of the episode, Albarn laughs, saying, “Well I’ve enjoyed it enormously, but I think it’s time to terminate this very, very in-depth analysis of my music-making process before I destroy the whole myth completely.” Listen to the full conversation below.

In the episode, Albarn says the song came out of an admiration for both Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That,” which he describes as “two of the ’80s’ greatest pop songs.” The song’s original title, Albarn says, was “I Can’t Go for Billie Jean”—though he clarifies, “for copyright reasons,” that “any resemblance is purely fictitious.”

He also explains why, next to the song title on the record, the note “For Ethyl” is inscribed: “Ethyl is the deceased mother of my partner,” Albarn says. “She was very ill when I first sat down at the piano. And I was just thinking about her. It all came out in one splurge; it was one take, the whole thing.” He adds that, while writing the song, he was overcome by a memory of her last words, which put created a state of mourning for “all these beautiful people I’d known who passed away,” including Bobby Womack. “I remember being in tears as I sang that,” he says.

“Andromeda” appears on the band’s forthcoming album Humanz (out April 28 via Parlophone). Vince Staples, Pusha T, Mavis Staples, Grace Jones, and many more collaborated with Gorillaz on the new album. Albarn revealed in a recent interview that Sade, Morrissey, and Dionne Warwick all turned him down. He also told Beats 1’s Zane Lowe that he has written over 40 more Gorillaz songs.

Watch D.R.A.M’s installment of “Over/Under”:

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