Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on 3 March 2010 by Parlophone internationally and by Virgin Records in the United States.

Plastic Beach evolved from an unfinished project entitled Carousel, which Gorillaz co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett began conceptualizing in late 2007. Unlike previous Gorillaz albums which were recorded with outside producers, Albarn chose to self-produce Plastic Beach, recording from June 2008 to November 2009 in various locations including London, New York City, and Damascus. The album features a larger roster of guest artists compared to previous Gorillaz albums, including Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bashy, Kano and Little Dragon.

A concept album, Plastic Beach adopts environmentalist themes, presenting the titular Plastic Beach as a "secret floating island deep in the South Pacific... made up of the detritus, debris, and washed-up remnants of humanity," inspired by marine pollution such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Musically, the album adopts a primarily electronic, synth-pop sound, with additional influences including hip-hop, funk and orchestral. As with other Gorillaz albums, Plastic Beach was promoted through various multimedia created by Hewlett, including interactive websites, animated music videos and short cartoons. The album produced three singles: "Stylo", "Superfast Jellyfish" and "On Melancholy Hill". Future single releases and promotion for the album were planned, but ultimately canceled due to budgetary issues.

Plastic Beach received mostly positive reviews upon release and was later named by several critics as one of the best albums of the 2010s. The album debuted at number two on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 and reached the top 10 in 22 countries, though its sales ultimately underperformed those of the band's previous two albums. The album was supported with the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour and performances at various global music festivals, the band's first live performances performed in full, unobscured view of the audience.