"We Got the Power" (referred to as "We Got the Power (Version 2:18:482)" in the tracklist and the booklet) 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

Jehnny Beth Jehnny Beth (born Camille Berthomier, 24 December 1984), is a French musician, singer-songwriter, producer, presenter and actress, best known as half of the duo John & Jehn and front woman of the English rock band Savages. Her debut solo album ...

of British

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band Savages and backing vocals from former

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guitarist and songwriter

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

and American rapper D.R.A.M., who also appears on the group's single " Andromeda". The song was released on 23 March 2017. It was released as the second 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

"We Got the Power" is the second single from the band's album ''

'' and was produced by Damon Albarn, Remi Kabaka and the album's executive producer The Twilite Tone. The song features guest vocals from Jehnny Beth, the lead singer of the British band Savages as well as backing vocals from American rapper D.R.A.M. and

. The song is a particular landmark for Albarn and Gallagher, after their public feud during what was dubbed by the media as " The Battle of Britpop" in the 1990s. At one point, the song featured backing vocals from Albarn's Blur bandmate

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

; however his vocals were removed from the final version of the song. In an interview with Radio X, Albarn spoke of the song, saying "At one point this song had Graham, Noel and me on it and it was sort of heading slightly in the wrong direction. It was becoming almost retro in its sort of spirit and way too rocky for this record so I kind of stripped it right back down again. We play it slightly different live than how it is on the record. It's sort of the song that comes on during the final titles of a film. The climax. I thought Jehnny would take a bit of the testosterone off". He also spoke of working with Gallagher for the first time, which Albarn was very complimentary: "He's fantastic in the studio. It's nice when you see how someone goes about their business. He's great."

Music video

On 26 May, in collaboration with e.on, a music video for the song was released. The video shows a number of electrical toys and gadgets dancing in tune with the song with a toy version of the band appearing near the end of the song for the climax.

Track listing

Digital release single # "We Got the Power" – 2:20 #"We Got the Power" (

Claptone Claptone is a German DJ and producer duo which specializes in house and tech house genres. They are recognizable by their plague doctor-style golden masks, which serve to intrigue the public as well as keeping their identities hidden. It was wid ...

Remix) – 6:05

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, drums *

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

– synthesizer * Stephen Sedgwick – mixing engineer *

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 ...

– drums *Samuel Egglenton – bells, assistant *John Davis – mastering engineer, engineering *

– vocals *

– additional vocals *

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...

– additional vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles British rock songs British power pop songs British new wave songs British synth-pop songs Gorillaz songs Songs written by Damon Albarn Parlophone singles Warner Records singles Songs written by Noel Gallagher