Fans of Gnarls Barkley have been patiently waiting for a follow-up to The Odd Couple since 2008. The duo’s debut album, St. Elsewhere, spawned the massive hit “Crazy” just two years prior, propelling members CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse to another level of national and international notoriety. Over the years, they’ve both immersed themselves in other projects but left Gnarls Barkley simmering on the back burner.
Although CeeLo has teased the project as recently as August 2023, he delivered a more promising update on the album in a recent interview with AllHipHop. According to the Goodie Mob vet, the album is nearly complete and slowly but surely inching toward a release date.
“Let the people know that the new Gnarls Barkley is on the way,” CeeLo says. “We are much much closer [to getting it done] than we were [last year]. We are a quantum leap closer. Let ’em know.”
With CeeLo based in Fayette County, Georgia and Danger Mouse (presumably) in New York City, they had to get creative when it came to recording. As CeeLo explains, they either went to each other’s respective studios or traded music over the internet.
“It was a combination of the two,” he says. “When schedules permit, we get together. We’ve gone out to Joshua Tree, just me and him, and talked. Sometimes it’s just about connecting on a personal level and then we can work on music from that point on. But we have about 20 songs finished at this point.”
St. Elsewhere debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its initial release. It went on to sell more than a million copies, while “Crazy” was certified 4x-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2016. Simultaneously, CeeLo pursued a solo career that proved to be just as lucrative. In 2010, he released the single “F### You,” a less than subtle message to the music industry. Written by CeeLo, Bruno Mars, his production team the Smeezingtons and Brody Brown, the track was an instant hit and amassed more than two million plays in its opening week. It landed in the Top 10 in 13 countries, including No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
CeeLo’s meteoric success continued in other mediums, too. He served as a coach on The Voice for multiple seasons, did voiceover work for American Dad and appeared alongside Madonna for the Super Bowl halftime show in 2012. Other television endeavors include The Masked Singer, The Soul Man, How to Rock and Anger Management. More recently, he provided the voice of Shuggie in the Disney+ series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
With CeeLo’s focus primarily back on music, the long wait for Gnarls Barkley music seems to be coming to a close. In the meantime, revisit “Crazy” above and St. Elsewhere below.
