Damon Albarn sat down to unpack the new Gorillaz track “Andromeda” for the latest episode of Song Exploder, a podcast hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway who asks artists to break down the songwriting process behind a particular song.
On the latest episode, Albarn pulls apart elements of “Andromeda,” featuring guest vocals by D.R.A.M. He immediately dives into the inspiration behind the instrumentals and mood of the track stemming from “two of the ’80s’ greatest pop songs,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That.”
Albarn lists out the numerous lives of the track, including earlier versions recorded with Christine & the Queens on vocals, and plays a snippet of a scrapped version with D.R.A.M. on lead vocals. D.R.A.M. makes a brief appearance on the episode of Song Exploder to talk about his experience being called up to collaborate on the new Gorillaz record.
The highly anticipated Gorillaz album Humanz is out April 28 via Parlophone.
Listen to the full episode of Song Exploder below.