Just over two years since the arrival of their last record, English virtual band Gorillaz have confirmed that a new album will be arriving in 2025.
Word of the forthcoming LP was shared by frontman Damon Albarn in a nascent interview with French publication Les Inrockuptibles, where the prolific artist also touched on the premiere of his new opera, The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction, alongside his plans for the rest of the year.
“I’m finishing a new Gorillaz album,” Albarn explained. “One opera and one new Gorillaz album seems like enough for 2025! Unless someone accuses me of taking my foot off the gas!”
Albarn’s Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett reportedly confirmed the news, with an Instagram account focused on the band sharing a DM from the musician in which he stated, “Yes, the new album is coming out this year.” That same post also noted that Albarn confirmed to a French podcast the record would be completed in “6 more weeks.”
The current influx of French press from Albarn shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially given that his new opera premiered at Paris’ Théâtre du Lido on Thursday (March 27), and will run until Sunday (March 30). The production is a rather ambitious one, with The Magic Flute II: La Malédiction serving as the sequel to Mozart’s 1791 opera, The Magic Flute.
“The idea of me writing an opera and for it to be a continuation of The Magic Flute sounds ridiculous, it was and is, not only was I grappling with the genius of Mozart but I had Goethe to contend with too!!” Albarn said in a statement. “I suppose I took a relatively reductionist approach to the question, how the fuck do I do this? The answer came from a surprising source but one no less brilliant, Kraftwerk.”
Gorillaz last released a new album in 2023, with Cracker Island serving as their eighth record. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for best alternative music album at the 2024 Grammys.
Albarn has remained busy since the release of the latest Gorillaz record, with Blur releasing The Ballad of Darren – their first album in eight years – in July 2023. It peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard 200 (their lowest-charting release since 1995) and hit No. 5 on the Top Alternative Albums chart, and would become their seventh consecutive release to top the U.K. charts.
Meanwhile, neither Gorillaz nor Blur have not made their return to the stage for some time, with the former not appearing live since the 2023 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, and the latter not performing since the 2024 edition of the same event.
