"DoYaThing" is a single 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
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals, various instruments), Nancy Whang (synthesizer, keyboards, vocals), Pat Mahoney (dr ...
frontman
James Murphy and
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
B ...
of
Outkast. The single was released on 23 February 2012. It was commissioned by
Converse
Converse may refer to:
Mathematics and logic
* Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement
** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication
** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...
as a part of their "Three Artists. One Song" project where three artists collaborate on a track. The song is also the starting point for a limited edition
Chuck Taylor All-Stars
Chuck Taylor All-Stars or Converse All Stars (also referred to as "Converse", "Chuck Taylors", "Chucks", "Cons", "All Stars", and "Chucky Ts") is a model of casual shoe manufactured by Converse (a subsidiary of Nike, Inc. since 2003) that was i ...
collection designed by Gorillaz artist
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is an English comic book creator, illustrator, music video director, and songwriter. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin and co-creator of the virtual band Gorilla ...
. The shoe designs feature artwork from other projects related to Gorillaz.
It was released in two different versions: the approximately 4-and-a-half-minute radio edit, and the explicit 13-minute version.
The former was released as a free download on Converse's website,
while the latter was released for streaming on Gorillaz's website.
Background and recording
The idea for "DoYaThing" started when Converse asked Gorillaz creators
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 ...
and
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is an English comic book creator, illustrator, music video director, and songwriter. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin and co-creator of the virtual band Gorilla ...
to design an exclusive shoe collection that would feature artwork influenced by Gorillaz. After the design was finished, Converse and
Cornerstone
The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.
Over time ...
, the company that promotes products from the "Three Artists. One Song." campaign, persuaded Albarn to broaden their partnership to a collaborative track. Albarn accepted, and invited
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals, various instruments), Nancy Whang (synthesizer, keyboards, vocals), Pat Mahoney (dr ...
leader
James Murphy and
Outkast member
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
B ...
, who both signed on.
Instead of recording the song by sending it via
e-mail
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, as Murphy initially feared, the three met in Albarn's
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
studio to record the track.
Despite the three only knowing each other through their music, Albarn described the experience of meeting them as "very natural", saying "We were comfortable with each other immediately." The song was written and recorded over three days, with the 13-minute version being recorded on the last one.
Speaking further about the collaboration Albarn said: "I only knew these guys through their work before we got together. The 12-minute version represents what we did over three days-- it's quite an insane progression. That version evolved out of just a drum beat and a
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, and then André just started going, and there was no sense that he was ever going to stop, it was a very exhilarating ride. It's live: I'm playing guitar, the
drum machine is going, James is playing
bass, and André just goes off. And what he's saying just gets more and more ridiculous. It finished on its own will, we really had nothing to do with it."
Composition
The song features Albarn playing
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, Murphy playing
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, and André 3000 rapping with a
drum machine in the background. The song's lyrics are abstract, as Albarn said it was hard to write them based on a shoe.
Albarn starts the song rapping in his "
2-D voice", ad-libbed. Murphy then sings the chorus in
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
with an
organ playing in the background. His vocals on the song have been likened to Alexis Taylor of
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 1995. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for ...
.
Two minutes into the song,
André 3000 starts rapping around the title line "''Do ya damn thang.''"
The song was originally only a
drum beat
A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes o ...
and a guitar. Because of this, the 13 minute version of the song was seen as a progression of the song by Albarn. It was recorded on the trio's last day of recording together. This version of ''DoYaThing'' continues from the 5 minute edit, with André 3000 improvising and the song building to a noisy,
krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
-esque climax, reminiscent of Murphy's band, LCD Soundsystem's "
Yeah" (Crass Version).
During the five-minute climax, André 3000 repeatedly yells the phrase "I'm the shit", followed by boasts like "The Moon is jealous of me, The Sun is jealous of me".
The lyric was based on an encounter Albarn had with a bicycling by
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
(whom Albarn would later collaborate with on his debut solo album ''
Everyday Robots
''Everyday Robots'' is the debut solo studio album by British musician Damon Albarn, best known as the frontman of Blur and Gorillaz. Described by Albarn as his "most personal record", the album was co-produced by Richard Russell and relea ...
'', on the tracks "
You and Me" and "
Heavy Seas of Love") who responded to Albarn's "How's it going Brian?" by telling him "Everything I'm working on is coming out great." The three likened the response to saying "Oh, it's great – I'm the shit." Albarn and Murphy both thought this version was a good representation of their work on the song; Albarn stated "It's a nice narrative."
Reception
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Jon Dolan of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' gave the song three and a half stars out of five, writing "Putting this many visionary types in one studio could’ve made for a mess, but they lock in for a three-man weave – like the
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
-
McHale-
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of avant-R&B."
''
The Michigan Daily
''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...
'' criticized the
beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery (c ...
as "awkward", Albarn's
rapping
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
as a "fail
re, and Murphy's chorus as "weird and warbling". However, the newspaper highly praised André 3000's rapping, as they stated "His lines are sick, his pacing is Gatling-gun quick, and he dominates in comparison
o Murphy and Albarn
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
" As a whole, they gave the track three and a half stars out of five.
In a positive review,
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
complimented the duo of Damon Albarn and André 3000. Writer Priya Elan stated "Murphy makes a brilliant backstage star, but the song is all about the Damon and Andre moment."
Beats Per Minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
named the track the best one so far of the "Three Artists. One Song." project, calling it "a potent reminder of the power of collaborative music." They gave the track 9 out of 10, saying the artists "play off of each other remarkably well."
''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' wrote that the track was "one of the best collaborations we've heard in a while," saying it "merges three genre pools, but still highlights the traits distinctive to each musician."
Music video
The video for "DoYaThing" was directed by Jamie Hewlett and was released on 29 February 2012. The video uses a mix of 2-dimension and
CGI characters combined with live-action footage. The house used for filming is 212 Hammersmith Grove, in Hammersmith, West London.
The music video opens to a video of a
crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...
scaring a herd of
antelope
The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia.
Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...
. It then cuts to a scene where
2-D wakes up and changes clothes in 212 Wobble Street, London, SW21 7QJ. He exits his room and checks another one, finding other band member
Noodle
Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Indo ...
fast asleep. After that, he looks in a bathroom and finds a masked figure representing André 3000,
surrounded by light blue-skinned "sweat collectors". Disgusted, 2-D looks in another room that turns out to be shrouded in complete darkness with the sounds of sheep, chickens and a man crying, which in turn is a reference to a
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
commercial which band member
Murdoc
Murdoc is a fictional character that appears in the ABC television series ''MacGyver'' and in the CBS reboot series of the same name. In both portrayals, Murdoc is an assassin and frequent antagonist of both series.
Original series
Murdoc i ...
appeared in. Murdoc then scares 2-D by popping up in the room, and he proceeds to go down the stairs using a
stair lift
A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people, typically those with disabilities, up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A per ...
as 2-D goes to the living room as the "
Doncamatic" submarine makes a cameo appearance behind him, and finds a previous character from the third album ''
Plastic Beach
''Plastic Beach'' is the third studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 3 March 2010 by Parlophone internationally and by Virgin Records in the United States. Conceived from an unfinished project called ''Carousel'', th ...
'' named the Boogeyman reading a newspaper (while the "
Dare
Dare may refer to:
Places
* Dare, East Timor, a city
* Darè, Italy, a commune
* Dare County, North Carolina, United States
* Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community
Name
* Dare (name), a list of people and fictional c ...
" music video plays on the TV).
He goes down to the kitchen and opens a cabinet, only to find the masked figure stuffed inside it. Calmly shutting the door on him, he cooks toast and puts it on his plate along with, without realizing, a human ear from a bowl of them near the toaster. 2-D then opens a refrigerator and finds the masked figure stuffed inside it, who gives 2-D a carton of milk and a jar of jam. At the dining table, he reads a fictional newspaper comic entitled ''The Gorillaz'', showing comics called "The Funnies" which features a comic of Murdoc hugging 2-D. Murdoc, having finally finished going down the stairs, goes up to 2-D and hits him with a Gorillaz Converse shoe, unlike the comic. 2-D decides against eating the toast upon realising that it has an ear on it, turns off the radio (which also cuts the song) and leaves the house, while Murdoc starts a transmission from his radio station, playing the intro to the Gorillaz song "
5/4". Once outside, he receives a
notice of eviction from a baboon
mailman
A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...
representing James Murphy, and smiles, looking relieved. The car from the music video of "
Stylo" is "parked" outside. The camera points up, revealing a still-giant
Russel sleeping on the roof of the house and the remains of the windmill island (nicknamed "The Slowboat") from the "
Feel Good Inc.
"Feel Good Inc." is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American hip-hop group De La Soul. Released on 9 May 2005 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, ''Demon Days'', the single peaked at 2 in the United King ...
" and "
El Mañana" music videos floating in the sky.
Track listing
;Promotional CD single
# "DoYaThing" (radio edit) – 4:26
# "DoYaThing" (full-length version) – 13:04
;10" Record Store Day vinyl
# "DoYaThing" (full-length version) – 13:04
Personnel
*
James Murphy – vocals, bass guitar, synthesizer, keyboards, drums
*
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, guitar, programming
*
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
B ...
– vocals, keyboards, synthesizer
References
{{authority control
2011 songs
2012 singles
Gorillaz songs
André 3000 songs
Songs written by Damon Albarn
Songs written by James Murphy (electronic musician)
Songs written by André 3000
EMI Records singles
Alternative dance songs
Electronica songs
Krautrock songs
Electropop songs