“Désolé” is the second single to be released in the episodic series Song Machine. The upbeat and soulful song features lyrics in both English and French with vocal contributions from Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara in Bambara, one of the many official languages of Mali. The song title is French for “Sorry.”
This song marks the third time Damon Albarn and Fatoumata Diawara have worked together. The two previously collaborated in 2012 on the song “Follow-Fashion” by Albarn’s supergroup Rocket Juice & The Moon and again on the 2012 song “Nothin' Can Save Ya” by Bobby Womack, which was co-produced and co-written by Albarn.
The track was first teased on February 19, 2020, with the Gorillaz posting a clip of an instrumental and short vocal intro. The title slide of the video said:
Up next on Song Machine…
indicating that this track would be the next in the series of songs coming from this project.