"Hollywood" is a song by British

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 American rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

and American house musician

Jamie Principle Jamie Principle (born 5 July 1960) is an American house music artist and producer born in Chicago, Illinois. _Biography_))).html" ;"title="allmusic ((( Jamie Principle > Biography )))">allmusic ((( Jamie Principle > Biography )))/ref> Biography J ...

. It was officially released on 21 June 2018, as the fifth single from their sixth studio album, ''

The Now Now ''The Now Now'' is the sixth studio album recorded by the British virtual band Gorillaz, released on 29 June 2018 via Parlophone and Warner Bros. Records. Recording for the album began in late 2017 – according to Gorillaz co-creator Damo ...

''.

Pre-release

The original demo for the song was recorded in late 2017 at the

Mondrian Hotel The Mondrian Hotel is a boutique hotel owned and/or operated by SBE Entertainment Group, located in West Hollywood, California. History The structure was built in 1959 as an apartment building. It was later renovated and reopened in 1985 as the ...

in West Hollywood, California, while the band was on the

Humanz Tour The Humanz Tour was a concert tour by the British alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz, in support of their fifth studio album ''Humanz''.Sources for shows in North America: * All except where noted: * 2nd San Francisco date: * Austin City L ...

, with additional recording occurring at The Compound in Los Angeles and Studio 13 in London. Its existence was first made public during an October 2017 interview with Gorillaz creator

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 ...

, where he stated that it had been rehearsed for a potential live performance, and the band played it during their soundcheck in Atlanta, but that he and the Gorillaz live band did not believe it was ready. Due to this, the song did not make its official debut until March of the following year, when it was performed at a concert in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Snoop Dogg was not present; his vocals were provided through a backing track.

Visualiser

The visualiser for the song begins with a spinning visual depicting the virtual members of Gorillaz against a moving spiral background, a feature used in visualisers for other songs on the album. However, unlike these, the video's visuals have their own unique red-green color scheme. During Jamie Principle's section of the song, the center of the spinning visual flashes select words from his lyrics. During the chorus sections, an animation of fictional Gorillaz frontman 2-D singing against red-and-green-tinted footage of a generic cityscape and a sequence consisting of words from the chorus flashing against a black background are interspersed. However, during Snoop Dogg's section, he is shown rapping in live-action form (albeit in black and white like 2-D) against the same cityscape footage. Towards the end of the song, the spinning visual can be seen once again zooming out into the background. Just before the video ends, a modified

Hollywood sign The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelling ...

reading "GORILLAZ" is shown.

Personnel

– vocals, synthesiser, guitar *

– vocals *

– vocals * James Ford – bass guitar, drums *Karl Vanden Bossche – percussion *

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 sever ...

– drum programming *Samuel Egglenton – assistant engineer * Stephen Sedgwick – mixing engineer, recording engineer

Charts

References

{{authority control 2018 songs 2018 singles Electropop songs British funk songs Gorillaz songs Snoop Dogg songs Jamie Principle songs Songs written by Damon Albarn Parlophone singles Warner Records singles Songs about Los Angeles Songs written by James Ford (musician) Songs written by Snoop Dogg Songs written by Jamie Principle Songs written by Remi Kabaka Jr.