Background
Blur's previous studio album, Blur (1997) had seen the band move away from the Britpop movement and take on a more Indie rock influenced direction, primarily under the suggestion of guitarist Graham Coxon. The press and the industry had feared that the change in style would not be taken well with the public, and therefore the album would be commercially unsuccessful as a result. Despite these concerns, Blur had become an unexpected success, particularly in America, where the album had been certified Gold. However, the band still wanted to innovate, so they decided to embrace a different sound. Bassist, Alex James stated: "I think you just have to keep changing. That sort of thinking was, sort of, key."
Damon Albarn, had been in a long term relationship with Justine Frischmann, of the Britpop band Elastica. Their relationship was highly publicised, the couple being described by John Harris as "proto-Posh and Becks for the indie-rock constituency." However their relationship became strained over time, stated reasons including Albarns desire to have children as well as Frischmann's continued friendship with Brett Anderson of Suede whom had shared a rivalry with Albarn. Albarns lyrics and attitude had reflected this in the eyes of the other band members, with Coxon pointing out, "I didn't have much of a clue that things were going wrong between Damon and Justine but it was probably easy to guess." After one last holiday together in Bali in late 1997 in an attempt to rekindle their relationship, the couple finally split. Commenting in later years, Albarn stated: "That relationship completely crashed. I mean, it seemed like a spectacularly sad end."
After, his breakup, Albarn started sharing a flat with artist Jamie Hewlett whom he had met through Coxon. Around this time, Albarn, had started to broaden his musical output. Whilst he was working on 13, there were various reports that him and Hewlet were working on a secret project, which turned out to be Gorillaz, a virtual band. Albarn also started working on film soundtracks: including Ravenous, Ordinary Decent Criminal and 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about this topic: 13 (Blur album)
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