"Sleeping Powder" 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 anima ...

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 (character), 2-D (Singing, vocals, Musical keyboard, keyboards), Murd ...

. The song and its accompanying music video were released on 8 June 2017 via

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, with a live debut occurring that same day. It was later released for streaming via

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and iTunes on 16 June 2017.

Production

"Sleeping Powder" was the first song to be recorded and released after the release of ''

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 Insta ...

''. Through deliberate design (and in contrast to ''Humanz''), it doesn't feature any musical collaborators.

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 ...

, speaking through the perspective of fictional band member 2-D, explained this decision: "2-D felt maybe he was unrepresented on ''Humanz''. It wasn't a problem, but maybe he was a bit too generous, you know? So he thought he'd do a song just by himself, and make a video just with him, and not tell anyone else." "Sleeping Powder" was written only three days before its June 8 debut, and its video was completed a day prior to release. To facilitate such a speedy turnaround for a music video,

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(provided by Albarn) was used for 2-D's animation. Backgrounds were largely composed of assorted

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Music video

The music video opens with a clip from the 1987 anti-drug

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, ''

This Is Your Brain on Drugs ''This Is Your Brain on Drugs'' was a large-scale US anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) launched in 1987, that used three televised public service announcements (PSAs) and a related poster campaign. 1987 ve ...

''. 2-D sits at a grand piano, playing along with the song's opening. As the song progresses, the room begins to

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, with the walls and furniture floating away to reveal a blue void. With every scene transition, the background shifts through several clips of stock footage while 2-D dances to the music. The music video ends as it started, with the room reconstructing itself as 2-D plays the piano once more.

Track listing

Digital release single # "Sleeping Powder" – 2:46

Personnel

– vocals, synthesizer, bass guitar, drums *

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 *John Davis – mastering engineer * Stephen Sedgwick – mixing engineer

References

{{Authority control 2017 songs Psychedelic soul songs Gorillaz songs Songs written by Damon Albarn Parlophone singles 2017 singles