Gorillaz, the English virtual band created by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, surprised fans during their mystery show on Sept. 3 by showcasing a brand-new album after previously playing their first three albums earlier that week. With the band’s 2025 being rooted in nostalgia (and for good reason), will it be their last album?
The legendary cartoon band has been going strong in the lead-up to its 25th anniversary this year. They announced new merchandise, vinyl pressings of albums and EPs, a collaboration with the popular online video game Fortnite, and the House of Kong art exhibition.
At their four live shows in the Copper Box Arena in London, they performed their first three albums and debuted a brand new record, taking the band in a new direction. After the debut, many fans began speculating online: Will this be the final Gorillaz album?
With the direction they’ve been going this year, people seem to think so.
The House of Kong was a look at the past
Since the release of the “Tomorrow Comes Today” EP in 2000, Albarn and Hewlett have done incredible things with their creation, putting out eight studio albums, earning multiple awards (including a Grammy), and garnering a large global fanbase. This year, they seemed intent on looking back at where the project began.
In January 2025, they put out their first YouTube video in two years, appropriately titled “NOSTALGIAZ,” a nostalgic retrospective showcasing the various Gorillaz media released throughout the years, feeling like a surreal retrospective for longtime fans. Then, in May, they announced the House of Kong exhibition, where people could explore past works, including concept artwork, never-before-seen album covers, and the large model that was used for the “Plastic Beach” album.
As far as anniversaries go, this was exceptional, and it goes to show the effort Albarn and Hewlett went through to showcase Gorillaz’ global impact on the world.
Their live shows were a look toward the future
The four live shows were a supplement to celebrate the anniversary, while debuting a new album in the process. This didn’t feel like a look to the past, but more so building on what was already there and keeping Gorillaz alive for many years to come, hence why the branded “mystery show” was a new album debut.
Fan reactions were overwhelmingly positive, but some felt it was a somber goodbye to the animated troupe. Leaked images on social media showcased some of the new visuals, detailing a mountain (which was prominent on the mystery show’s poster), an older, enlightened version of the band’s bassist, Murdoc Niccals (Phil Cornwell), and the animated characters seemingly dying in a fiery explosion.
While fan reactions may seem bittersweet after the showing, this isn’t new territory for them. After “Plastic Beach,” fans had to wait until 2017 for a new Gorillaz album, and smaller, similar hiatuses occurred in between other albums (Plastic Beach was released 5 years after “Demon Days”). Even their current album, “Cracker Island,” ended with the farewell-like “Possession Island” track, which could be interpreted as a goodbye to many, yet here we are with another album.
Albarn and Hewlett recently said, “If you have the ideas, then keep moving forward.” Looking at what many are saying about the show, its themes of authoritarianism, Middle Eastern style, and its collaborators, they seem to still have ideas. Albarn even said earlier that the new album “is in four languages.”
So whether this is the swan song for the band or just the next chapter, we know that even 25 years later, the future is still coming on.