Plastico and green, green glow: Reviewing Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach"

Ever since the music industry existed, it was dominated by, well, people. They wrote the lyrics, sang the songs and danced the choreographies; yet, they were still... tangible. Of course, no one had ever heard of an artist that didn't properly exist. That's when Gorillaz came in the picture.

Gorillaz in 2020. Jamie Hewlett (left) and Damon Albarn (right) with members Murdoc, Russel, Noodle and 2-D.

A virtual band formed in 1998 by artist Jamie Hewlett and singer Damon Albarn, Gorillaz was one of, if not, the first band to not quite exist. It consists of members 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel, which are all figments of the two artists' imaginations. But, instead of being regarded as just avatars, this quartet is fully credited for the group's releases, from albums and singles to special episodes and series. Hewlett explains the reason why the band formed in the first place in a 2005 WIRED interview:

If you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell - there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that.

Lingering a bit on this particular motivation, you can probably guess that Gorillaz wasn't set out to be just another band, to 'blend in' with the already established groups. Instead, it was more of a musical protest, a lyrical commentary, if you will, on the element of mainstream that appears in the industry. It aimed to disconnect from the public opinion and to revive the uniqueness of bands in music, while also emphasizing ongoing societal problems.

One of their most important albums is their 2010 "Plastic Beach", which tackles the ever-present theme of pollution, specifically how detrimental its consequences are. The title itself describes an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which formed because of all the debris spilled into the seas. The album debuted at No. 2 on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, earning the band's highest debut chart position.

"Plastic Beach", 2010, album cover

Leaving accolades aside, I would like to start properly articulating this album review. I'm going to cover 3 aspects in this blog post: the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm also going to briefly state how the album was received, and end with the reason why I chalked up an article about this particular release.

The good

"Plastic Beach" is a work distributed between 16 songs, each one shaping the album's narrative. Almost every song is a collaboration, which just showcases the variety induced in genre, background and style.

While the album doesn't settle on a single genre, the two main categories it finds itself in are pop and electronic. The style, however, varies throughout the 57-minute release. Let's take the Mos Def and Bobby Womack featuring "Stylo".

It blends electro-funk with synth pop, biting a bit into trip rock and techno. This song is a mix of politics and soul in one place, aiming to achieve an euphoric feel whilst directing commentaries on the stage humankind reached. With lyrics like the hypnotic "Coming on to the Overload. Overload. Overload", this medium-paced piece speaks loudly on social problems, yet it trances you into a groovy, hip tempo.

At the same time, this albums manages to strum the right chords, using these environmentalist themes as vehicles for the means of talking about personal dilemmas and day-to-day challenges, like distinguishing authentic love from an artificial one. This particular theme is best reflected in the track "Rhinestone Eyes", a 3-minute song which portrays the battle in identifying what's real from what's not.

Lines like the spellbinding "Your love's like rhinestones falling from the sky" and "This storm brings strange loyalties and skies" further amplify this message of artificial with apparent authentic connotations: rhinestones are beautiful gems, yet feigned, which shows just how big of a challenge it is to distinguish sincere approaches from spurious ones; this storm of uncertainty brings new values, new norms to be guided by, creating a completely new set of morals to follow in this sea of unreliability.

With this, "Plastic Beach" takes up the top spot in my own hierarchy of musical creations, as it managed to convey the sincerest of emotions while maintaining an environmentalist narrative, bringing awareness to both individual development and ecological repercussions.

The bad

Now that I've confessed my deep love for this album, I can't ignore the minuses of it, the parts in which I found it lacking. If, as individual songs, "Plastic Beach" is a track list of hits, as a whole, it felt a bit inconsistent. Personally, even though the thrill of jumping from one feeling to the other is nothing but memorable, I sense that, in a short 16-song album, this variation is too sudden, perhaps too frequent.

I want to look specifically at two songs, "Sweepstakes" and "To Binge". The former talks about gambling as a spur of energy, something that can drive one's level of content. The latter, on the other hand, has a deeply personal feel to it, describing deep regret over a past relationship and the sentiment of not being able to let go. These two are both lyrically and musically different, as one focuses on a fast-paced, quick-changing tempo and the other settles on a cozy, slowed, almost saddening rhythm.

With these two, I want to show that, even though I love the album's songs individually, they, as a whole, felt a bit misplaced, giving the work a dismantled character.

The ugly

This segment might be my favorite: I'm not talking about actual ugly details in the lyrics themselves; instead, I'm talking about the ugly truths this album covers.

Keep in mind that "Plastic Beach" has dual connotation, relating to environmentalist messages as well as deeply personal dilemmas. With this, I'm going to develop on the beauty behind this sincerity, the lure of this honesty. I'll divide this in two explanations, referring to two distinct songs: "Plastic Beach" and "On Melancholy Hill".

"Plastic Beach" is one of the very last songs on the album and, quite frankly, one of the only that doesn't have double connotation. It talks directly about the detrimental effects of pollution on everyday life, describing a dystopian world in which anything natural gets washed up in debris.

Lyrics like "Comes the only whale", "It's Styrofoam deep sea landfill" and "Plastico and green, green glow" all paint this image of an environment driven by pollution, in which life itself can't strive and is eaten up by heaps of contamination. They shape this toxic portrait of a near future which can be altered only by acting on it as soon as possible - like Dr. Seuss said in his 1971 "Lorax", "Unless someone like you cares a whole awfull lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

"On Melancholy Hill" is a song squished right at the middle of the album, yet its meaning is more than a 'filler'. It's a song about settling down, about how something imperfect yet tangible is better than an ideal dream which can never be reached, a utopian desire which can never be fulfilled.

"You can't get what you want, but you can get me", "'Cause you are my medicine/ When you're close to me" - these are just two examples through which this song shines in uniqueness: it tackles the fearing sentiment of settling down intertwined with the intoxication that comes fiercely and unexpectedly when in love. It is a display of fears and a painting of emotions, an unlocking of deeply rooted sentiments through the prism of bubblegum pop, a happy tune and some joyfully strung chords.

How it was received

Gorillaz' third studio album received heaps of acclamation from the worldwide landscape, snatching top spots from all around. Just to name a few, "Plastic Beach" topped Billboard's Alternative and Rock Albums (respectively), UK's Dance Albums and a big part of the European charts, like Austria, Belgium and Denmark. The group's 2010 release was certified gold and platinum, claiming a whopping 4 million copies all around the world.

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Why did I choose to talk about this particular album? Well, the answer's simple: I love it. I only recently started being a devoted fan of Gorillaz (by recently, I mean I started about two weeks ago); yet, despite this, I had the chance to browse through the biggest part of their discography. When I landed on this 2010 album, I instantly recognized "Rhinestone Eyes" as 'that one TikTok song' - shortly after, I discovered it was so much more than that. I scrolled through that 16-song track list and each song I landed on would immediately go in my "Likes" playlist.

I feel like this album is a safe place for me, as I can lose myself in any of those songs and still appreciate the beauty and realty behind them. I feel like "Plastic Beach" 's variety is something that should be talked about more, just like I think authentic concepts like these should be more integrated in today's musical landscape.

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I hope this review gave you a full picture of what this album means to me: its good, bad and ugly qualities and how deeply my appreciation is for it. I'm certain I'm not alone in this love for the album, and I sincerely wish, dear reader, that you understand the passion. ✌️💙