NCT 127 have announced their seventh full-length album 'BLINGY'•
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The Avalanches have reunited with Karen O for 'Blue Shadows'•
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•
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Big Truck are poking fun at self-help culture on their new single 'Rebounder'•
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flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
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JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
NCT 127 have announced their seventh full-length album 'BLINGY'•
Nieve Ella has announced her debut album 'How Long Will It Take?'•
The Avalanches have reunited with Karen O for 'Blue Shadows'•
KATSEYE have released 'Animal' with a starring role for Demi Moore•
Babymorocco has introduced his next pop universe with 'Shmarmaladeharmonica'•
Chloe Qisha has announced her new mixtape ‘Fantasize’ with ‘Baby Girl’•
Big Truck are poking fun at self-help culture on their new single 'Rebounder'•
Sofie Royer channels The Cribs on her new single 'Opium'•
Chelsea Wolfe has announced London show alongside her new album 'The Dark'•
Lizzy McAlpine is back with her new album 'Angel'•
Arca has announced her new album 'XXXXX' and an immersive livestream experience•
Keo have shared their soaring new single 'Pistol' from debut album 'Put A Smile On For Me'•
Carly Rae Jepsen's new single 'After All' arrives with a heartfelt video•
Caity Baser celebrates body confidence on her new single 'Flaunt It'•
deBasement's 'HARDBODY' EP arrives with Miss Bashful collaboration 'PRESS ON ME'•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
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  1. Tracks
  2. Gorillaz
  3. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
  4. Opium

TRACK

Gorillaz

Opium

Release date: 23rd October 2020

From Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Spotify
More on Gorillaz

About This Track

'Opium' by Gorillaz is a 2020 track from 'Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez'. With an instrumental intro leading into a verse that frames a sense of confinement and self-improvement, it pushes for release through movement, promising that “trouble don't last always”. The chorus follows the same therapeutic, forward-looking tone, trading on the idea of turning a new page and being alright.

"Opium" is a track by Gorillaz, from the album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, released 23rd October 2020. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 20 articles about Gorillaz.

About the Artist

Gorillaz

Gorillaz

Lyrics

Opium

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1: Johnny Venus]

I've been cooped up for a minute

I've been inside working on me

Hyperbolic chamber I sit

I'm gon' dance my way out of this

Winter lasted for ages

Trouble don't last always

Brand new life, turn the page

Be alright, be okay

[Chorus: Johnny Venus]

Grinding, loving, singing, hugging, living, get it, stack it

Run it, dancing, flying, people, wake up

Come on, keep on, dreaming, don't stop

Loving, trying, growing, don't stop

They gon' try to slow you, don't stop

Never, ever, know I, don't stop

London, Paris, L.A., don't stop

[Verse 2: Johnny Venus]

Atlanta, Jamaica, Rio, don't stop

New York, Lagos, Sydney, don't stop

You tried to kill me, created a monster

You tried to end me, but fate said "No, no"

Know why they envy, I got it, it's in me

Been so long since I had new faith

Been so long since I changed my ways

Been so long since I been okay

I met a lady on the side of the road

And her eyes were a story that had never been told

About a life that was lived on hope

And the truth of the inner light that we all hold

She said "Baby, I can hear my train coming

I'll leave with something before I go

Listen child, don't you ever waste time tryna dim nobody shine

Better water your own"

[Verse 3: 2-D]

Will we wake up tomorrow?

I feel like we are closer together

Sing for colossal changes

And how we treat each other when we're living in a city of elevations

Is it man or woman feeling some balance today?

[Bridge: 2-D]

Hope

Hope the radiant light is shining on you (Shining on you)

Hope

Hope the radiant light is shining on you

[Chorus: Johnny Venus]

Grinding, loving, singing, hugging, living, get it, stack it

Run it, dancing, flying, people, wake up

Come on, keep on, dreaming, don't stop

Loving, trying, growing, don't stop

They gon' try to slow you, don't stop

Never, ever, know I, don't stop

London, Paris, L.A., don't stop

[Verse 4: Doctur Dot]

Been a long time since I been outside

Don't let it catch up with me

I contact just with me

Tapped in, wrapped up

Bring it in, let me in

Let me all over in between

Leave a toothbrush in your dreams

I ain't worried 'bout the next thing

I'll be with you to the extreme

Ice bounce off the glow of the moonlight

I hope we're still close when the sunrise

I paint the picture clear for ya

I can't hold this in much longer

Searching for this feeling my whole life

[Bridge: 2-D]

Hope

Hope the radiant light is shining on you (Shining on you)

Hope

Hope the radiant light is shining on you

[Instrumental Outro]

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez

2020
Listen
Album
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Gorillaz
Release year
2020
  1. —How Far?
  2. —Opium
  3. —With Love to an Ex
  4. —The Valley of the Pagans
  5. —MLS
  6. —The Lost Chord
  7. —Dead Butterflies
  8. —The Pink Phantom
  9. —Strange Timez
  10. —Pac-Man
  11. —Chalk Tablet Towers
  12. —Friday 13th
  13. —Aries
  14. —Momentary Bliss
  15. —Désolé
  16. —Simplicity
  17. —Severed Head

More from Gorillaz

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The Mountain
The Mountain
2026
Cracker Island (Deluxe)
Cracker Island (Deluxe)
2023
Cracker Island
Cracker Island
2023
Meanwhile - EP
Meanwhile - EP
2021
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Deluxe)
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Deluxe)
2020
Song Machine Season One
2020

Explore

More tracks by Gorillaz

  1. The MountainThe Mountain
  2. Bolly Noir
  3. CasablancaThe Mountain
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  6. DARE (Album Version - Edit)
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Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Damon Albarn, Doctur Dot, Johnny Venus, P2J, Remi Kabaka Jr.
Producer
Gorillaz, P2J, Remi Kabaka Jr.
Engineer
Raúl Chirinos, Samuel Egglenton, Stephen Sedgwick
Guitar
Damon Albarn
Keyboards
Damon Albarn
Vocals
Damon Albarn, Doctur Dot, Johnny Venus
Additional Vocals
Etta Albarn Teulon
Drum Programmer
P2J, Remi Kabaka Jr.
Mastering Engineer
John Davis (Engineer)
Mixing Engineer
Stephen Sedgwick
Percussion
Remi Kabaka Jr.
Piano
Damon Albarn, Roberto Fonseca
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Gorillaz and their all-star cast inspire hope at Margate's Demon Dayz
Live

Gorillaz and their all-star cast inspire hope at Margate's Demon Dayz

“It’s been a really weird week in this country,” says Damon Albarn after ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’, and he’s not wrong; “...with a real surprise, but then an inevitable bullshit outcome.” “But this is only the beginning,” he adds. “It’s going to grow.” It’s fitting that Gorillaz chose to name today’s one-day festival after ‘Demon Days’. Released in the post-Iraq invasion early ‘00s, in an atmosphere of uncertainty and anger, it was the album where the playful mask of the cartoon side-project started to slip, revealing melancholy, slyly subversive, but ultimately uplifting depths. And it’s fitting too that they should hold it here in Thanet, where 64% of voters opted for Brexit - triggering the chaos currently taking shape on the horizon - but where the revamped Margate Dreamland has played a part in revitalising one of Britain’s oldest seaside towns, run-down for many years. ‘Uncertainty leaves room for hope’ was scrawled by Albarn on the wall of his studio during the recording of ‘Demon Days’; it’s a phrase that definitely rings true today. The clarity of the concept behind ‘Demon Days’ is missing on this year’s ‘Humanz’, which with its succession of guest spots plays more like a mixtape. But that should make it ideally suited to a live setting, and most of the album’s guests are here today; a selection of supporting attractions to amuse as we queue for candy floss or a spin on the waltzers. In the Hall by the Sea, Kilo Kish dances a dizzying line between R&B, alt-pop and musical theatre, before De La Soul stir up the Main Stage crowd with daisy-age positivity and a run through ‘A Roller Skatin' Jam Named "Saturdays"’ which couldn’t fail in this heat. Kali Uchis and Vince Staples both underwhelm slightly, Staples not helped by the usual 6pm rush to the food stalls, but back in the Hall there’s a commanding set from Little Simz, mixing light (picking up a guitar for the tender ‘Interlude’) and dark (‘Dead Body’), before a vicious ‘Bars Simzson’. There’s a tough choice next, between Kano, leaning mostly on last year’s ‘Made in the Manor’ - a brass-assisted ‘New Banger’, ‘This is England’, and the apt ‘T-Shirt Weather in the Manor’ are highlights - and Danny Brown. Both are excellent, but those who make it into a near-capacity Hall for Brown are treated to ‘Dip’,‘Grown Up’ and a frenzied ‘Ain’t It Funny’ ramping up the bass, and wild-eyed intensity, to sweat-inducing levels. As fans have wandered past street food stalls, tin can alleys and chainsaw-juggling unicyclists today, black-clad figures have been silently stalking the site, holding all-seeing-eye flags and looking like an invasion from Doctor Who. They start assembling on the Main Stage, ominously tolling bells, before removing their masks. It’s Gorillaz, and they’re soon joined by Vince Staples - and Albarn - for the rousing opener ‘Ascension’. A ‘Humanz’-heavy set follows - along with airings for the recently debuted ‘Sleeping Powder’ and the brand new ‘Garage Palace’ - but there are other early highlights in the shape of a searching ‘Last Living Souls’, and ‘Stylo’ - dedicated to the late Bobby Womack - which strikes a chord here (“Sing yourself out of depression/rise above... Electric is the love”). Grace Jones is sadly absent for ‘Charger’, and there’s no sign of Noel Gallagher either, his place on a triumphant ‘We Got The Power’ taken by one Graham Coxon, but the parade of guests still dazzles: De La Soul’s Pos for ‘Momentz’, with Maseo and Dave joining for an inevitable ‘Feel Good Inc.’ ending; Danny Brown, Coxon and Kelela for ‘Submission’ and Kilo Kish, who joins Albarn - who explains that they met for only the first time three hours before - for a stunning ‘Out of Body’. Perhaps best of all are the return of Kelela for ‘Humanz’ stand-out ‘Busted and Blue’ - that particular kind of fragile, spaced ballad Albarn does so well - a re-worked ‘Clint Eastwood’, with Kano and Little Simz trading bars in place of Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and, of course, a beaming Shaun Ryder, given a hero’s welcome for ‘DARE’. It’s hard to find much to fault about Demon Dayz, and, for the time spent here, it’s easy to forget the uncertainty that surrounds us. There’s an encore, but the words echoing in fans ears as they leave, climbing off Gorillaz’ carousel and back onto 2017’s, hanging on for dear life, are the last of the main set: “We got the power to be loving each other / No matter what happens / We've got the power to do that.”

12 Jun 2017 • 11:58 am