Strange Timez

{{Short description|2020 single by Gorillaz featuring Robert Smith}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Strange Timez

| cover = Strange_Timez_by_Gorillaz.png

| alt =

| border = yes

| type = single

| artist = Gorillaz featuring Robert Smith

| album = Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez

| language =

| released = {{Start date|2020|09|09|df=yes}}

| recorded = 2020

| studio = Damon Albarn's home studio, Devon, England

| genre = * Electropop{{Cite news|last=Schmidt|first=Claudia|date=10 September 2020|title= WATCH: Gorillaz ft. Robert Smith- 'Strange Timez'|work=Happy|url= https://happymag.tv/watch-gorillaz-ft-robert-smith-strange-timez|access-date=17 October 2020}}

post-punk
synth-pop{{Cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/2020/music/news/gorillazs-song-machine-strange-timez-album-review-1234814174/amp/|title = Gorillaz's 'Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez' is a Perfect Pop Tonic for 2020: Album Review|date = 23 October 2020}}
dark wave{{Cite magazine|last=Blistein|first=Jon|date=9 September 2020|title=Gorillaz Venture to the Moon With Robert Smith in New 'Strange Timez' Video|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gorillaz-the-cure-robert-smith-strange-timez-song-machine-1056313}}

| length = 3:47

| label = {{hlist|Parlophone|Warner}}

| writer = {{hlist|Damon Albarn|Remi Kabaka Jr.|Robert Smith}}

| producer = {{hlist|Gorillaz|Kabaka|Smith}}

| chronology = Gorillaz

| prev_title = Pac-Man

| prev_year = 2020

| next_title = The Pink Phantom

| next_year = 2020

| misc = {{Extra chronology

| artist = Robert Smith

| type = singles

| prev_title = It Never Was the Same

| prev_year = 2015

| title = Strange Timez

| year = 2020

| next_title = How Not to Drown

| next_year = 2021

}}{{External music video|{{YouTube|bbA5p54Rw2M|"Strange Timez"}}}}

}}

"Strange Timez" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring The Cure frontman, Robert Smith. The track was released on 9 September 2020 as the seventh single for Gorillaz' seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, and the sixth episode of the Song Machine project, a web series that involved the release of various Gorillaz tracks featuring different guest musicians over the course of 2020.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gorillaz-new-music-video-series-song-machine-details-944519/|title=Gorillaz Detail New Music, Video Series 'Song Machine'|last=Blistein|first=Jon|date=29 January 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=27 February 2020}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gorillaz-the-cure-robert-smith-strange-timez-song-machine-1056313/|title=Gorillaz Venture to the Moon With Robert Smith in New 'Strange Timez' Video|magazine=Rolling Stone|author=Jon Blisten|date=9 September 2020}}

Background

The song was first teased at the end of the "Pac-Man" music video, where the opening tune of the song played over an announcement that Song Machine would return in September. It is the first single from Song Machine to be recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Albarn mentioning that the track was recorded over email with Smith.{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/gorillaz-song-machine-season-one-strange-timez-album-tracklist-robert-smith-2749027|title=Gorillaz team up with Robert Smith on 'Strange Timez' and share star-studded 'Song Machine' tracklist|website=NME|author=Tom Skinner|date=9 September 2020}}

Music video

The video, directed by Jamie Hewlett, Tim McCourt, and Max Taylor, features the band members going on a trip to the Moon. 2-D stares at the Earth, Noodle blows up a billboard on the Moon, Russel performs donuts with the vehicle on the Moon's surface, and Murdoc discovers a Monolith on the Moon. When he stepped through it, it teleported him back to Earth, right outside of Kong Studios. The video ends with the message "Be the Change" written out of craters on the Moon's surface.