Gorillaz - Humanz (Deluxe Edition) (2017)

Humanz is the upcoming fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. The album is scheduled for release on 28 April 2017 via Parlophone and Warner Bros. Records. The album was announced on the band's official Instagram page on 23 March 2017. According to a press release, the album was recorded in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, and Jamaica and produced by Gorillaz, The Twilite Tone and Remi Kabaka. It is the band's first studio album since 2010's The Fall.

Damon Albarn has said that with Humanz he set out to create something not overtly political, but "an emotional response to politics". The album's overarching theme is the emotional aftermath of an unexpected world-changing event. Albarn has said that during recording sessions for the album in late 2015 and early 2016, he would tell collaborators to imagine a future in which Donald Trump had won the 2016 US presidential election as an example, later noting that "unfortunately it became reality". At one point, the album was called Transformerz, although this was later abandoned, for fear of confusion with the film series of the same name.

Albarn was honoured at the Ivor Novello Awards where he picked up the lifetime achievement award for his work with Blur, Gorillaz, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, as well as his myriad of soundtrack and other work. During his acceptance speech, he spoke out about his love of the band Simple Minds - and how they may be shaping the new Gorillaz record: "From someone who grew up in Leytonstone, it was a culture shock to say the least. Anyway, we were in this band and we had a guitarist who was an Edge from U2 obsessive, but we had a more kind of loose bass player who was really Simple Minds. Graham and me were a bit kind of more mercurial about what we like and what we don't like, but they were more adamant. Looking back at it now, I loved pretending that I was in U2, but I just think that Simple Minds were cooler. "Promised You A Miracle" - I listened to it when I started doing this new Gorillaz record and it just blew my mind, and it blew everyone who I was working with's mind. They hadn't even heard of Simple Minds, and they loved it - so that's testament to it being incredible."

Tracklist:
01. Intro: I Switched My Robot Off
02. Ascension (feat. Vince Staples)
03. Strobelite (feat. Peven Everett)
04. Saturnz Barz (feat. Popcaan)
05. Momentz (feat. De La Soul)
06. Interlude: The Non-Conformist Oath
07. Submission (feat. Danny Brown & Kelela)
08. Charger (feat. Grace Jones)
09. Interlude: Elevator Going Up
10. Andromeda (feat. D.R.A.M.)
11. Busted and Blue
12. Interlude: Talk Radio
13. Carnival (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
14. Let Me Out (feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T)
15. Interlude: Penthouse
16. Sex Murder Party (feat. Jamie Principle & Zebra Katz)
17. She's My Collar (feat. Kali Uchis)
18. Interlude: The Elephant
19. Halleujah Money (feat. Benjamin Clementine)
20. We Got the Power (feat. Jehnny Beth)
21. Interlude: New World
22. The Apprentice (feat. Rag‘n’Bone Man, Zebra Katz & RAY BLK)
23. Halfway To The Halfway House (feat. Peven Everett)
24. Out Of Body (feat. Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz & Imani Vonshà)
25. Ticker Tape (feat. Carly Simon & Kali Uchis)
26. Circle Of Friendz (feat. Brandon Markell Holmes)