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Daniel Huynh

Professor Flores

ENG 1201

20 June 2020

Feeling Good

“Feels Good Inc.” by Gorillaz and the cover done by Daniel Andrade shine light on the

thoughts and emotions of someone trying to escape from drugs, alcohol, sex, and smoking. The

original version made by Gorillaz was created in 2005, but the official music video was not

released until 2016 and the cover song by Andrade was made a year prior to that. Gorillaz use of

animated characters to visually depict their song allowed the audience to understand the

underlying story easily. Andrade did not have similar visuals too Gorillaz as Andrade just video

graphed her playing the acoustic guitar and this along with the calmness and serene-like vibe to

the cover song matches smoothly and reveals a different perspective to Gorillaz song. The song

“Feels Good Inc.” by Gorillaz and the cover by Andrade have different audiences but both

appeal to people who are struggling to escape ephemeral addictions. The difference in

information and style makes Gorillaz song more emotionally appealing as the audience can relate

to the characters and the music easier than Andrade take on the song.

Looking at the Gorillaz video, the audience seem to be for mature people who are heavy-

hearted and have experienced a lot of heartache. In the first portion of the video, the setting is set

in a crowded room full of people drunk and passed out, and this is located at the top of an

extremely high skyscraper of a tower called "Feels Good Inc." Inside the room, the viewer is

introduced to the main character whose eyes are completely blacked out, the eyes characterize

how hopeless and woeful he is. The character then proceeds to saying, “You won’t get
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undercounted 'cause you’re damned and free”, “You got a new horizon, it’s ephemeral style”,

and “A melancholy town where we never smile”. Just like the main character’s eyes, the lyrics

follows a sad and sorrowful style. This is important because it allows the audience to understand

the situation the character is placed in. At this point in the song and video, it makes the audience

sympathize for the main character and feel bad for the situation he is in.

In Andrade cover song, she completely removes those verses and never speaks about the

melancholy town of never smiling, being damned, nor the ephemeral style. Undoubtedly, the

audience for Andrade song is different, it seems like it is meant for younger and less experienced

people who need motivation to never give up. Although there are no animations or insightful

visuals to help tell the different perspective, the way Andrade sings change the story around. The

style of the song makes you feel invited and uplifted unlike Gorillaz video where there was an

overhanging arc of sadness. Andrade gives hope and motivation to people to break free without

giving up because in the end it will feel good once you set yourself free. This can be thoroughly

seen when Andrade says, “HaHaHa” she sings as if she was laughing it off, instead of Gorillaz,

“Hahaha” where it is cynical and controlling. This is important because Andrade’s laugh makes

the song perspective happy, calm, and motivating you to laugh out your problems. Even though

it is a unique perspective take on of Gorillaz “Feels Good Inc.” it does not necessarily make it

any better appealing than the Gorillaz official music video.

Furthermore, Andrade could not achieve what the Gorillaz did with their music video.

The video alone does not spark any emotions for the audience, however, listening to the musical

notes and lyrics it harmonizes so easily together. When Andrade sings, "Love forever, love is

free" and the repeating verses "Feel good" musically Andrade made those verses decrescendo

and then right back into crescendo. That subtle change in volume is important in the makings of

Andrade's unique take on "Feel Good Inc." by the Gorillaz because this allows room for the
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audience to think and this causes the soft and calming mood unlike the Gorillaz song where it is

fast paced. But this, nonetheless, is not enough to make Andrade's song more appealing than the

Gorillaz song because visuals are more triumphant than just audio. There is not a lot of actual

ethos, pathos, or logos being used in Andrade video maybe because her goal is to just create a

totally different perspective from the original, but not to rhetorically appeal to the audience. In

the end, Andrade lacks the characters, visuals, and just sheer information to appeal to the

audience enough.

Back to the Gorillaz, later in the song the viewer is met with another character who is

seen sitting on a flying piece of land that is powered by a windmill and is freely roaming the

skies forever. After these two characters appear it instantly sets the message of the song that the

main character longs for the freedom that he sees in the second character, but he is held back by

the things that makes him feel good. Before the main character sees the flying windmill, he

walks to the window passing piles of people passed out then the camera switches to booze and

smokes lying next to people like trash and with assumption the things that makes him feel good

are drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex and this is preventing him from escaping. Finally, anytime

when he convinces himself to try and leave he gets pushed back by these people that appear on a

screen, one could assume are the owners of the Feels Good Inc., saying that he should stay and

never leave because the alcohol, smoking, drugs, and sex feel good and it will never go away.

The ethos in these fast moments throw a lot of information out there because it is critical to

luring in the emotions from the audience. The thought of being in a vicious cycle and having

these ephemeral addictions navigate your life appeals to your morals and reaches out to the

viewer emotions way better than Andrade’s calming take of “Feels Good Inc.”.

Both versions of “Feel Good Inc.” are enjoyable to listen to because they tell different

perspectives of the same situation, however Gorillaz had a lot more information through visuals
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which allowed it to be stronger when it comes to appealing to the audience. Although, Andrade

was brave in changing the perspective the calmness and vibes alone were not enough to make it

engaging for the audience.

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Work Cited

Daniel Andrade. “Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (Cover) by Daniela Andrade” YouTube, April 29,

2015, Accessed on June 06, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C9EYka6fIU

Gorillaz. “Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (Official Video)” YouTube, Jun 28, 2016, Accessed on June

06, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHNuVaZJ-k