"Ascension" is a song by British

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

virtual band In entertainment, a virtual band (also called a virtual idol, virtual singer, virtual group, cartoon group, cartoon idol, cartoon singer or cartoon band) is a band or music group whose members are not depicted as corporeal musicians, but animat ...

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...

, featuring

Vince Staples Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper and singer. Staples was once a close associate of Odd Future, Mike G and Earl Sweatshirt in particular. He is currently signed to Motown and Blacksmith Records. Staples rose to pr ...

. The song was released on 23 March 2017. It was released as the third single from their fifth studio album ''

Humanz ''Humanz'' is the fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 28 April 2017 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Warner Bros. Records. The album was announced on the band's official Instagr ...

''.

Background and recording

"Ascension" is Gorillaz' third single from their album ''

'' and marks the group's first collaboration with American rapper

. The song received its premiere on

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

radio station. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

leads into

Saturnz Barz "Saturnz Barz" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz, featuring Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan. The song was released on 23 March 2017. It was released as the lead single from their fifth studio album '' Humanz''. The song marks the group ...

. The house from the latter is shown at the end.

Track listing

Digital release single # "Ascension" – 2:36

Personnel

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual ...

– vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, drums, programming *

The Twilite Tone Anthony Christopher Khan (né Craig; born July 13, 1971), known by his stage name The Twilite Tone, is an American record producer, recording artist, composer, DJ, and radio host. Among others, he has worked with Gorillaz, Kanye West, Common, B ...

– synthesizer, drums, additional vocals *

Remi Kabaka Jr. Remi Kabaka Jr. (born 11 April 1970) is a British record producer, art director, percussionist and voice actor best known as the drummer and producer for British virtual band Gorillaz. He became a music producer for the band in 2015 after severa ...

– drum programming * Stephen Sedgwick – recording engineer, mixing engineer *John Davis – mastering engineer *Michael Law Thomas – additional engineering *

– vocals *Casey Cuyao – assistant *Samuel Egglenton – assistant *KT Pipal – assistant *The Humanz (Rasul A-Salaam, Starr Busby, Melanie J-B Charles, Drea D'Nur, Giovanni James, Marcus Anthony Johnson, Janelle Kroll, Brandon Markell Holmes, Imani Vonshà) – additional vocals

Charts

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Gorillaz songs Songs written by Damon Albarn Vince Staples songs Songs written by Vince Staples Parlophone singles Warner Records singles Grime music songs