Stylo (song)
Encyclopedia
"Stylo" is the first single from British alternative group Gorillaz
's third studio album Plastic Beach
. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack
and Mos Def
. The single was released on 26 January 2010.
has claimed that this song bears similarities to his 1983 song "Time Warp" stating that "I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song Time Warp, claiming their song Stylo to be an original composition" and is currently consulting lawyers.
form of the track, then just a rough beat, was premiered on the Zane Lowe
show on 14 January 2009, along with "Electric Shock" and "Broken". About a week before the official premiere, Parlophone president Miles Leonard described the song as "a dark, twisted track that sounds like the 'Saturday Night Fever
' soundtrack on MDMA". The single was leaked onto the internet on 20 January 2010. Murdoc stated on his Twitter
account, "A leak! A leak! Plastic Beach has sprung a leak! One of those Russian pirates has put a bullet hole on my island! My single's leaked! 'STYLO!'" He later added, "If anyone's going to leak my single, it'll be me!" The song's official premiere was on NME Radio
that same day, shortly followed by its addition onto the Gorillaz official website. Gorillaz manager Chris Morrison said of the leak, "I just think that illegal downloading and pirating could be stopped, without a doubt. We have to take the gloves off and say it has to be stopped." On 26 January 2010, Stylo was released for digital download from iTunes. When the video was released it received regular airplay on MTV
and Viva. However, the video no longer received significant airplay after failing to make the Top 100 in the UK. The song was performed on the 22 April 2010 episode of The Colbert Report by real members of the band.
theme. The main portion of the video, a car chase, has been compared to the car chase scene in the 2005 Australian Horror film Wolf Creek
. No information has been given by Gorillaz to clear up whether or not the film was an influence on the video.
The first preview of the video was a set of animated storyboards that were shown in a press-only Plastic Beach exhibition in London. On 15 February 2010, Murdoc made a series of posts in Twitter about the upcoming video before releasing a trailer for it. The posts described him, Cyborg Noodle and 2D being chased through a Californian desert by an antagonist referred to only as "HIM". A second trailer was released on 27 February, revealing the animation style to be 3D CGI
, a first for the band. Babelgum
was expected to premiere the video on 27 February, however they postponed their release to 4 March. The premiere took place on 1 March on the official Gorillaz YouTube
page.
The music video depicts a fast-paced car chase on a Californian desert road. Murdoc, 2D
, and an android Noodle (with a bullet hole in her head) are speeding down the road in a bullet-riddled, smoking 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
with the word "Stylo" on the front grille
. They encounter an inept police officer (played by actor Jason Nott) who pursues the speeding band in a police car. The android Noodle, while Murdoc is trying to pull her back in the car and pull over, shoots at the police officer's vehicle, running it off the side of the road. Bruce Willis
, in a red 1968 Chevrolet El Camino
, chases down and shoots at the Gorillaz, as the sky turns black with a spectral fog and the android Noodle malfunctions and collapses. As Bruce and the Gorillaz race across the desert, the policeman crawls towards his spilled box of doughnuts. Before he can reach it, a shadowy masked figure (the "Boogieman") appears out of thin air and envelops the stunned policeman in a black fog, similar to that in the sky. The video ends with the Stylo car running off the side of the road and into the ocean, as Bruce looks on contently. The car, submerged underwater, transforms into a shark-like craft and swims out of view. The CGI characters of the music-video have been made by the London-based award winning company Passion Pictures
, and co-directed by Pete Candeland. During the video, references are made to three other tracks on the album:
The 69 Stylo Camaro has in real life been bought by a Danish man named Jakob Klug, pictures of the car can be found here http://camaro69.elpres.dk
UK promotional single #1
UK promotional single #2
10" promotional single
12" promo 1
12" promo 2
12" promotional single
in the category of Short Form Music Video. The ceremony took place on 13 February 2011. The video lost to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance."
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
's third studio album Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...
. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
and Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
. The single was released on 26 January 2010.
Production
Bobby Womack knew nothing about Gorillaz and was initially unsure about the collaboration, however, his daughter liked Gorillaz and convinced him to do it. Womack was told to sing whatever was on his mind during the recording of "Stylo". "I was in there for an hour going crazy about love and politics, getting it off my chest", said Womack. After an hour of recording, Womack, a diabetic, started to pass out. He was sat down and given a banana, before waking up minutes later.Music and lyrical content
Fictional band member Murdoc Niccals stated the following about "Stylo" in a track-by-track commentary: Reggae singer Eddy GrantEddy Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant is a musician, born in Plaisance, Guyana.- Life and career :When he was still a young boy, his parents emigrated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park...
has claimed that this song bears similarities to his 1983 song "Time Warp" stating that "I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song Time Warp, claiming their song Stylo to be an original composition" and is currently consulting lawyers.
Release
A demoDemo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
form of the track, then just a rough beat, was premiered on the Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...
show on 14 January 2009, along with "Electric Shock" and "Broken". About a week before the official premiere, Parlophone president Miles Leonard described the song as "a dark, twisted track that sounds like the 'Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
' soundtrack on MDMA". The single was leaked onto the internet on 20 January 2010. Murdoc stated on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account, "A leak! A leak! Plastic Beach has sprung a leak! One of those Russian pirates has put a bullet hole on my island! My single's leaked! 'STYLO!'" He later added, "If anyone's going to leak my single, it'll be me!" The song's official premiere was on NME Radio
NME Radio
NME Radio is the radio station from NME magazine, that broadcasts in a new commercially oriented alternative music format. It first began broadcasting on 24 June 2008.- History :...
that same day, shortly followed by its addition onto the Gorillaz official website. Gorillaz manager Chris Morrison said of the leak, "I just think that illegal downloading and pirating could be stopped, without a doubt. We have to take the gloves off and say it has to be stopped." On 26 January 2010, Stylo was released for digital download from iTunes. When the video was released it received regular airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Viva. However, the video no longer received significant airplay after failing to make the Top 100 in the UK. The song was performed on the 22 April 2010 episode of The Colbert Report by real members of the band.
Reception
Stylo was met with mainly positive reviews, as well as noticed as one of the key points of the album. Pitchfork gave it a 7 out of 10, saying "There's not a Gorillaz song that can trace its lineage to one geographic place, and "Stylo" feels drawn from the time when people thought hip-hop might turn the Bronx into a borderless musical melting pot." Danreviewer from Altsound gave the song a 69%, confessing that he never was a "Gorillaz fan until now", complementing the techno groove and soft vocals. Jacqueline Rupp of Common Sense Media gave it a 3 out of 5 stars saying that "Aside from the head-scratching message, the eerily smooth hooks combine with impassioned verses, a repetitive techno background chorus, and a steady beat to make their own statement, regardless of the spoken words." Rolling Stone also gave it a positive review, with a 4 out of 5 stars. It mainly failed to chart successfully, closely to the Billboard Hot 100, and only reaching 24 on the Alternative Charts. Though it was the first Gorillaz song to reach into any Japanese chart, becoming Number 8 on the Japan Hot 100. As for other countries, it was near the end of the chart or middle of the chart. This is the 5th song to reach any American chart position by Gorillaz. The song made number 78 on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2010.Music video
On 14 December 2009, California-based newspaper Desert Dispatch reported that a Gorillaz video shoot had taken place on 12 December in Calico Ghost Town, California. A representative from the production company said the video had a Mad MaxMad Max (franchise)
The Mad Max franchise refers to a series of futuristic films, taking place in the "Mad Max Universe", that tell a story of breakdown of society, murder, and vengeance. The first Mad Max was an Australian action film directed by George Miller and written by Miller and Byron Kennedy, released in 1979...
theme. The main portion of the video, a car chase, has been compared to the car chase scene in the 2005 Australian Horror film Wolf Creek
Wolf Creek (film)
Wolf Creek is a 2005 independent Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean. The story revolves around three backpackers who find themselves held captive by a serial killer in the Australian outback...
. No information has been given by Gorillaz to clear up whether or not the film was an influence on the video.
The first preview of the video was a set of animated storyboards that were shown in a press-only Plastic Beach exhibition in London. On 15 February 2010, Murdoc made a series of posts in Twitter about the upcoming video before releasing a trailer for it. The posts described him, Cyborg Noodle and 2D being chased through a Californian desert by an antagonist referred to only as "HIM". A second trailer was released on 27 February, revealing the animation style to be 3D CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, a first for the band. Babelgum
Babelgum
Babelgum is a free to view Internet television platform supported by advertising. The project was set up in 2005 by Italian media and telecommunications entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia and scientist Erik Lumer, with the aim of developing interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms...
was expected to premiere the video on 27 February, however they postponed their release to 4 March. The premiere took place on 1 March on the official Gorillaz YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
page.
The music video depicts a fast-paced car chase on a Californian desert road. Murdoc, 2D
2D (Gorillaz)
The fictional character Stuart Pot , better known by his stage name 2-D, also simply spelled as 2D, is a member of the British virtual band Gorillaz...
, and an android Noodle (with a bullet hole in her head) are speeding down the road in a bullet-riddled, smoking 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...
with the word "Stylo" on the front grille
Grille
A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...
. They encounter an inept police officer (played by actor Jason Nott) who pursues the speeding band in a police car. The android Noodle, while Murdoc is trying to pull her back in the car and pull over, shoots at the police officer's vehicle, running it off the side of the road. Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, in a red 1968 Chevrolet El Camino
Chevrolet El Camino
The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupe utility vehicle produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1959–1960 model years in response to the success of its rival, Ford Ranchero. Production resumed for the 1964–1977 model years based on the Chevelle platform, and continued for the...
, chases down and shoots at the Gorillaz, as the sky turns black with a spectral fog and the android Noodle malfunctions and collapses. As Bruce and the Gorillaz race across the desert, the policeman crawls towards his spilled box of doughnuts. Before he can reach it, a shadowy masked figure (the "Boogieman") appears out of thin air and envelops the stunned policeman in a black fog, similar to that in the sky. The video ends with the Stylo car running off the side of the road and into the ocean, as Bruce looks on contently. The car, submerged underwater, transforms into a shark-like craft and swims out of view. The CGI characters of the music-video have been made by the London-based award winning company Passion Pictures
Passion Pictures
Passion Pictures is a film and animation production company based in Rathbone Place, off Oxford Street in London's West End. They have been responsible for much of the production of the visual element of the animated rock band Gorillaz....
, and co-directed by Pete Candeland. During the video, references are made to three other tracks on the album:
- As he is being run off the road, the officer crashes through and wrecks a billboard poster of "Superfast JellyfishSuperfast Jellyfish"Superfast Jellyfish" is a song from Gorillaz's third album Plastic Beach. It features Gruff Rhys, lead singer of Super Furry Animals, and De La Soul, who were previously featured on the hit Gorillaz' song "Feel Good Inc."...
". - There is a sign labeled "Sweepstakes" that can be seen when the scene of the police officer's wrecked car is returned to.
- At the end of the clip, the submerged car that was occupied by the animated members of the Gorillaz transforms into a shark-shaped submarine, which begins the music video for "On Melancholy HillOn Melancholy Hill"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British alternative group Gorillaz' third studio album, Plastic Beach. The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production time for The Good The Bad and The Queen's self titled album. The single was released on 26 July 2010...
".
The 69 Stylo Camaro has in real life been bought by a Danish man named Jakob Klug, pictures of the car can be found here http://camaro69.elpres.dk
Track listing
Digital Download- "Stylo" (album version) – 4:30
UK promotional single #1
- "Stylo" (radio edit) – 3:50
- "Stylo" (album version) – 4:30
- "Stylo" (instrumental) – 4:30
UK promotional single #2
- "Stylo" (LabrinthLabrinthTimothy McKenzie , better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. McKenzie is signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco, becoming the first non-talent show signing in six years...
SNES Remix Feat. Tinie TempahTinie TempahPatrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu , better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He made his first mixtape in 2007 with 28 songs, freestyles and remixes, the album features Mz Bratt, Chipmunk and G-Unit...
) – 4:15 - "Stylo" (Alex Metric Remix) – 6:14
- "Stylo" (DJ Kofi Remix) – 3:44
- "Stylo" (Chiddy BangChiddy BangChiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University, in...
Remix) – 3:38
10" promotional single
- "Stylo" (radio edit) – 3:50
- "Stylo" (instrumental) – 4:30
12" promo 1
- "Stylo" (album version) - 4:30
- "Stylo" (Alex Metric Remix) – 6:14
12" promo 2
- "Stylo" (Labrinth SNES Remix Featuring Tinie Tempah) - 4:15
- "Stylo" (Tenkah Remix) - 4:48
- "Stylo" (Chiddy Bang Remix) - 3:38
- "Stylo" (Death Metal Scene Remix) - 7:54
- "Stylo" (Yuksek Remix) - 5:08
- "Stylo" (DJ Kofi Remix) - 3:44
12" promotional single
- "Stylo" (radio edit) – 3:50
- "Stylo" (Labrinth SNES Remix featuring Tinie Tempah) – 4:15
- "Stylo" (Tenkah Remix) – 4:48
- "Stylo" (Alec Metric Remix) – 6:14
- "Stylo" (Chiddy Bang Remix) – 3:38
- "Stylo" (Instrumental) – 4:30
- "Stylo" (From Annie MacAnnie MacAnnie Mac is an Irish DJ and television presenter who hosts an eponymous electronic dance music show on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom which airs at 7:00 pm on Friday evenings as well as a Sunday evening show alongside co-presenter Nick Grimshaw.-Personal life:Annie Mac was born in Dublin,...
Minimix By DJ Kofi) – 5:06 - "Stylo" (DJ Kofi Remix) – 3:44
- "Stylo" (Yuksek Remix) – 5:08
- "Stylo" (Tong & Rogers Wonderland Mix) – 4:13
- "Stylo" (Louis La Roche 'Better Late Than Never' Remix) – 3:29
- "Stylo" (Death Metal Scene Remix) – 7:54
Nominations
The song was nominated at the 53rd Grammy Awards53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
in the category of Short Form Music Video. The ceremony took place on 13 February 2011. The video lost to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance."
Charts
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|