Damon Albarn has revealed that he has collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny for a forthcoming Gorillaz project.
As reported by Remezcla, Albarn told Warp in an interview that he and Bad Bunny – real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – linked up while the two were both in Jamaica.
“What I love about Gorillaz is that I can bring [in] anyone I want, you know?” he said. “I was in Jamaica recently and recorded a Gorillaz song with Bad Bunny, that’s something exciting for next year.”
Albarn also revealed that the collaboration will serve as the lead single to Gorillaz’ forthcoming project, which he says is inspired by Latin America.
“Bad Bunny is the first single. It is the first song I have made from this new project,” Albarn said.
“I still don’t know when it will come out, or how we are going to launch it, but we finished it and it is… yes, more or less a reggaeton song. It’s Bad Bunny meets Gorillaz.”
Bad Bunny enjoyed a prolific 2020, dropping a total of three albums – ‘YHLQMDLG’ in February and ‘El Último Tour Del Mundo’ in December, as well as compilation album ‘Las Que No Iban A Salir’ in May.
Albarn is set to drop his new solo album ‘The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows’ this November. He’ll be performing cuts from the album with a live band and a string quarter later this month (September 20) at London’s Globe Theatre, with the show being live-streamed around the world.
In October last year, Gorillaz dropped their seventh album ‘Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez’ featuring collaborations with Slowthai, St. Vincent, Elton John, The Cure’s Robert Smith and more.
Last month, the virtual band backed that up with the surprise release of new EP ‘Meanwhile’, sporting three tracks with an appearance from AJ Tracey.