Baby Queen by Gorillaz Song Info
"Baby Queen" is the crown princess of Thailand, who came to a Blur concert in 1997. Because of the specific role the royal family play in Thailand, she sat on a throne next to the mixing board, surrounded by soldiers. Damon Albarn wrote the song after dreaming about her 25 years later. "She'd grown up and we spent time in my dream together, her as a woman," he told The LA Times in January 2022. Albarn recounts a memory of the Blur concert in the second verse. “She fell into the generals Oh, Baby Queen On the watch all around her” When Blur played "Song 2," the Crown Princess stood on her throne and stage-dived into the soldiers guarding her. Albarn may be singing of Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the only child of the then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and his first wife, Princess Soamsawali. There's one stumbling block to our suggestion: Albarn told the LA Times she was 14 at the time and Princess Bajrakitiyabha was 18 in 1997. However, she's the most likely candidate. Albarn wrote "Baby Queen" himself, presumably in early 2022. (He told the LA Times in his January 2022 interview he was writing and recording a song about the Thailand crown princess). "Baby Queen" first got heard in late September 2022 when EA included it on the FIFA 23 soundtrack. Gorillaz then released it as the third single from Cracker Island on November 11, 2022. Albarn co-produced "Baby Queen" with: American songwriter/producer Greg Kurstin. He also helped Albarn write and produce the first two Cracker Island singles: "the title track" and "New Gold." + Gorillaz' Nigerian drummer, Remi Kabaka Jr. "As a producer, I was just trying to bring in this kind of dreamy feel to the track," Kurstin told Apple Music. "It has a floating quality, and that's something I was leaning into, trying to put a soundtrack to that dream." "Baby Queen" is a rare Gorillaz track where Albarn is the sole singer and there aren't any guest vocalists. The previous Gorillaz single with no musicians outside the band was their 2018 offering "Tranz." Murdoc, the cantankerous bass player in the virtual version of Gorillaz, had this to say about "Baby Queen" in a Cracker Island listening party: "A fever dream of a track, literally. It was inspired by one of 2-D's strange little night visions. He's taken a lot of knocks to the head over the years, but that scrambled noggin does dream up some terrific tunes. There a real eloquence and slightly distant spaciousness to the track. A melodic and dreamlike presence. Or, to put it another way, it's bloody good!"
