#gorillaz crit

[2dnos]

another complaint i’ve been seeing is ppl bringing up others complaining that ci isn’t like “old gorillaz” (again bringing up the “it’s not gonna be demon days 2!!!!” argument, i’ve seen none of the 15 fans left expect or want demon days 2) and that “artists try new things and grow” but these singles have sounded so derivative and nothing. trying to fit into a “Gorillaz Sound” (that ppl keep saying doesn’t exist but by now be fr……..) so they can push another album out and continue the rillaz money flow

[phonedidion]

no the fuck he didnt

[arttheclown]

awful shit i learned lately about gorillaz:

the manager is apparently a neoliberal white feminist which certainly reflects in the writing LOL

2D’s current voice actor is anti-mask and extremely racist (he’s done blackface)

apparently warner music owning gorillaz has also played a role in watering them down and making them more “brand friendly.” that’s why we don’t hear murdoc swearing or generally acting like murdoc anymore, among other things.

merch has not arrived on time to fans or has arrived damaged.

noodle’s og voice actress was fired out of the blue and never even told why.

the NFT thing is by far the most wide-scale destructive thing they’ve done but they’ve been shit for some time now. i’m gonna take a page out of a friend’s book and pass along some advice he gave to me — just don’t fucking interact with gorillaz until they address and stop this shit in its tracks (if they do). do not stream them on youtube, do not stream them on spotify. unfollow them on social media. they will not start caring until they start losing money so let’s tank these fuckers.

[glowrillaz]

comic without commentary

[smellysailor]

I really, really like Gorillaz. I like their music, the characters, the theories, the fanart.

However, they’ve done some things that a lot of people don’t like. They say management sucks, that the voice actors suck, that their music is going downhill, and that they are becoming more mainstream, which is a bad thing, and that their choices with merch have been questionable.

Is it wrong to still like them? I still think their music and voice acting is fantastic, and I don’t really care if they are becoming more mainstream. But am I wrong for thinking so? Should I move away from them, even if I still really love what they’re making?

First of all, thank you for this question. I promise you are far from the only person to really question their place as a Gorillaz fan, especially nowadays, & it’s something I’ve thought a lot about. While I cannot give you a concise clear answer, I do hope my thoughts can help.  “Is it wrong to like Gorillaz?” Short answer: no. Gorillaz means a lot of things to a lot of people, and you are not at all in the wrong for seeing worth in it!  Longer answer: Its complicated, and ultimately up to you to decide for yourself. On one hand, Gorillaz is more than its flaws, and it’s ok to recognize that, and love them for that! But at the same time, Gorillaz has flaws. Some are subjective (ie your opinions on the music/art style, etc), but some are glaring, and objectively harmful (working with companies who make NFT’s, casual bigotry in the earlier phases, Kevin Bishop, etc) and its important to recognize that as well. If someone decided that they no longer liked Gorillaz for those reasons, I absolutely would not blame them. I know I have definitely distanced myself from them after the NFT debacle. 

But, as is the case with all fans who dedicate themselves to their favorite media, you start to grow tired of these flaws because you care about it. You want it to be better, because it means something to you, and you KNOW it can be better.

I can only really speak on my experience, but despite the flaws of the band itself, Gorillaz has had a hugely positive impact on my life. It is the reason for my career choice in animation, it is the reason I know so many amazing people from all over the world, and it’s even the first thing I talked about when I met my amazing partner back in 2017. I owe Gorillaz so much, and while I critique it to hell and back, I still get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I listen to Plastic Beach, and I refuse to let anyone take that from me. If Gorillaz is important to you, but you feel that the flaws and ugly parts are too much, or outweigh your love of it, it’s ok to distance yourself from it. Take a break from Gorillaz & the fandom, indulge yourself in other things! Don't like the direction the band is taking? Indulge urself in fan content, or make your own! You can even ignore new Gorillaz stuff altogether and just listen to the old albums/songs you love! Celebrate the things you love in what ever way you want! But please, if Gorillaz means something to you- the theories, characters, music- do not let anyone take that from you, not even Gorillaz themselves.  I hope that helps, and sorry for the rant. Have a good day <3

[paleimitatorz]

i used to be OBSESSED with the gorillaz back in middle school and still really like them. but it feels like recently the band members just don’t matter. i was drawn in bc of the awesome characters and storyline in the music videos. it felt like the band were more than mascots, they had big personalities and it felt like those personalities were injected into the albums. it felt like they actually had a hand in the music. demon days felt like it had been made by the characters, not by damon. and i miss that, i feel like the music now just feels like damon’s solo project. not 2d, russel, noodle, and murdoc. idk this may just be me

i would agree, there was a much larger focus on how the characters contributed to the music, especially during Phase 2 with the monster that is Rise of the Ogre, lol. It was a mixture of truth, embellished truth and total fiction, but that’s what made it ride the line between believable and fun perfectly, and it’s what made Gorillaz truly unique. (more under the cut because i need to shut up)

today there’s almost none of that, articles have even made the fact that they avoid questions about the music their freaking headline, lol

i can’t fully expect their new writing staff to be able to provide the same insights as the older writers, because those writers had closer relationships with Damon and more insight into the actual musical process, or were musicians themselves. The project is a lot more remote now, especially with Jamie and Damon living countries apart, and so much of the old stuff they could reference was poorly archived/inaccessible (not anymore!), so it seems that what attention they pay to their roots they only pay in service of callbacks like Mike the Monkey, and they just can’t (or won’t) get a handle on how the characters produced the music rather than Damon Albarn.

That’s not to say they don’t try at all, they do have the characters interview collaborators and recall events as if they produced the record together, but it’s never much about the music, more about “Slaves bought the last stollen at Aldi” or whatever, and it’s very, very abridged.

I think the thing that best exemplifies this problem is when my pal replied to an article author on Twitter and politely informed him that Noodle’s major contribution to Demon Days was not, in fact, her clearing Kong of zombies, but that she wrote the fucking album, to which the author graciously replied that he hadn’t been informed and amended the article to better reflect Noodle’s role (which was very cool of him, but also kinda sad)

[carneirinha]

ok gorillaz crit time

ngl i think one of the most jarring things that came from noodle's writing as she became an adult in phase 4 is the fact that, all of a sudden, she started being taken 100% seriously.

what i mean by this is, like, take phase 2 noodle. she was incredibly smart, yes! she was an amazing songwriter n composer, yes! but she was also a pretentious 14 yr old girl. even tho she is smart, it's kinda expected that someone who wrote the entire demon days album by herself is a bit pretentious and a tad edgy, which u can see that thru interviews. n that's actually normal for someone that was her age, it adds depth to her.

now there's like none of that? the writers r just going "she's gonna spout out the most obvious bs n barely discuss music anymore, get into stem for no reason, talk abt hamster butts as an attempt to b relatable even tho she's not a teen anymore n we're gonna treat that seriously". which imo is kinda sad, bcuz not only does it make her more of a mary sue but it also removed all of her depth

like, how interesting would it b if it's implied that she's still kinda stuck in her teens due to her trauma n that she's trying to grow n cope w/ that? it's not only realistic due to the circumstances in which she had to reach adulthood but it'd explain why she's so... annoying?? as of lately. idk bro there's so much stuff that could've been amazing if the writing was still top notch

[bodaciousbisexual]

sometimes i think about how Murdoc’s refusal to talk about the inspiration for “Broken” in the track-by-track guide from 2010 did more for his characterisation than the entirety of Ed Caruana’s writing