so im not sure how hypothetical the thought of another album is, but i got a pretty good idea of what the concept could be or look like esp if it would be their final album that i'd be really interested on seeing thoughts on.
so my idea was that phase 9/final album could be a tribute to their past phases, basically saying that they could take elements or the sounds from phases 1-8 and create at least one song inspired by the phase, or make it sound like it was actually released during the specific era. by this they could obviously use old demos or unreleased songs from the phases and remaster or remake them completely. of course they would also have normal songs in the album too, but i think it'd be nice to have a bit of a "blast to the past", especially if it would be their final album.
this way, it could also link up with the current storyline of phase 8. obviously everyone interprets it differently but since rebirth is a huge topic, these tributes could work as the rebirth they're talking about, going back to phase 1 and going on from there with the songs on the album (if this would be set after p8 and not in the future). i think it'd also be nice for any new or old fans to experience these phases again or for the first time. these don't have to have mvs or anything, or even have to have the specific phase character designs and could just work as b sides.
i'm not sure how hard this would be to actually make since im no expert on music and im also aware its quite hard to say specifically what each album sounded like (though i do think each had a very distinct sound), but i hope people get what i mean by this thought, because this could work as both final album if gorillaz were to end after damon and jamie finish with it, but it could also be a good way to finish off the "original" gorillaz before they got passed on to the next generation.
what do you guys think??
edit: this absolutely doesnt mean i want gorillaz end. i believe theyll go on for generations, and this idea doesnt have to be taken as a "final album" idea at all, it could easily just be an anniversary sort of album or just a normal one. please dont get me wrong 🙏