What Is the Meaning of Gorillaz's "Cracker Island"?

What is the meaning of the tune "Cracker Island" through Gorillaz? It serves as the name observe off of the album of the similar title.

Chris Barilla - Author

Coming into 2023 scorching with a star-studded list of options on their new album, Gorillaz nonetheless is aware of how one can wow fanatics simply as they did once they burst onto the scene in the past due Nineteen Nineties. Damon Albarn's virtual band has controlled to tap some very actual collaborators for the new album "Cracker Island" together with Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, and Thundercat. It's exactly his music with Thundercat, which also is the identify track of the album it stocks its title with, that we are here to speak about.

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With that being said, what is the meaning of "Cracker Island," Gorillaz's collaboration with Thundercat? Keep reading for a breakdown of the lyrics.

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What is the meaning of "Cracker Island"?

Aside from hit songs, Gorillaz is a narrative project that extends into visuals uploaded to the band's YouTube. Through those clips, fanatics get a glimpse into the digital global that the Gorillaz participants inhabit, and likewise acquire context into the meaning of their music. Naturally, "Cracker Island" does not deviate from that attempted and true method one bit.

In a video titled "It turned out the neighbors were a cult too. What are the chances?" Jamie Hewlett units the degree for the entirety of the "Cracker Island" album and what Gorillaz will likely be dealing with: cultists. An whole group of them. Metaphorically, the music appears to be a reference to "stan" tradition, unpacking how sure folks get absorbed into pop culture and lose their sense of individuality, almost like what occurs in a cult.

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With the lyrics "On Cracker Island, it was born / To the collective of the dawn / They were planting seeds at night / To grow a made-up paradise," Damon metaphorically describes a fragile (cracker) society created by some kind of upper energy/shadow group. This could also be a metaphor for powerful gamers in the business growing "industry plants," aka artists they hand-picked for fame, and selling them closely.

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He then reflects that this "paradise" is "Where the truth was auto-tuned," in all probability a comment on either the the song business the usage of computer enhancements on performers, distortion of the fact via media, or a mix of both. Nonetheless, he is going on with, "And its sadness, I consumed (Forever cult) / Into my formats everyday (Forever cult) / In the end, I had to pay."

Damon sings, "They taught themselves to be occult / They didn't know its many strategies." That first line is a play on phrases, sounding like "They taught themselves to be occult" as well as "They taught themselves to be a cult."

Joined by Thundercat, the two repeat the tune's intro before summarizing that they're "like a ship between the tides / I held on, I survived." Seemingly a connection with how amidst the changing tides of the industry, they have remained true to themselves and their crafts.

We see another reprise of the aforementioned strains referencing the occult before the track concludes with yet one more run via the verse. To shut the observe out, we see Damon and Thundercat recognizing that "In the end, I had to pay (Forever Cult) / In the end, I'll have to pay (Forever Cult) / In the end, I'll be okay (Forever Cult) / Nothing more to say," reputedly coming to phrases with the new circumstances of the music trade and learn how to exist inside of them.

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