Saturnz Barz
by Gorillaz (featuring Popcaan)

Album: Humanz (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • This stratospheric tune incorporates trap-style beats with Gorillaz' animated lead singer 2-D crooning about feeling lost and alone in a digital world:

    With the holograms beside me
    I'll dance alone tonight
    In a mirrored world, are you beside me
    All my life?
  • 2-D is joined on the song by Jamaican dancehall stalwart Popcaan, whose other collaboration include songs with Drake ("Know Yourself, "Controlla"), Jamie XX ("I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times),") Melissa Steel ("Kisses For Breakfast"), Naughty Boy ("Should've Been Me") and AlunaGeorge ("I'm In Control").
  • The "Saturnz Barz" virtual reality 360° video was directed by Gorillaz member Jamie Hewlett and it features the animated crew exploring a surreal haunted house.

    The haunted house is a real one, located at 220 Hendrie Street in Detroit. The building sits alone in an empty field, across the street from a warehouse.
  • The clip was viewed more than three million times in its first 48 hours, breaking YouTube's record for the biggest debut of a virtual reality video.
  • The British voice that announces at the start of the song, "Press the button to begin," is sampled from a children's educational toy called Interactive Planetarium. The device, made by the company Scientific Toys, features narrated audio clips that explain the Solar System.

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