Blur Join Snapchat For Some Reason

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Blur Join Snapchat For Some Reason

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Blur, the legendary Britpop quartet led by Damon Albarn, have not been a going concern since 2015, when they released their long-awaited comeback album The Magic Whip. (Chronologically appropriate reference: What a time to be alive, it was.) Their last gig was Nov. 29, 2015 at the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, where the above photograph of Albarn and Graham Coxon was taken. Since then, Albarn has been busy releasing two Gorillaz albums and pursuing his myriad side projects. There’s not been a lot of chatter about more Blur activity.

So it’s more than a little curious that Blur have started an official Snapchat account and instructed their fans to follow it “to keep up with the latest updates.” And not just because Snapchat has been hemorrhaging users after being supplanted by Instagram stories and proclaimed uncool by music influencer Kylie Jenner herself. (With a single tweet, she reduced the company’s market value by $1.3 billion.) Also not just because the Venn diagram overlap between Blur fans (mostly old) and Snapchat users (mostly young) seems like it would be microscopically small. It’s mainly just odd that there’s any Blur online promo happening at all at a time when they haven’t been active for close to three years.

Nonetheless, there it is: “Follow the official Blur Snapchat to keep up with the latest updates.” Now they’ve got me excited — what kind of updates might we be expecting? And do I have to sign up for Snapchat to receive them? (And, only tangentially related, why does my brain always play the name Snapchat to the tune of the regrettable Akon/Eminem song “Smack That”?) Blur were founded in 1988; could there be some kind of 30th anniversary commemoration in the works? Dare I hope for a 2019 tour or even a new album?

Probably not. Probably some intern at one of Blur’s record labels was instructed to start Snapchat accounts for the company’s whole roster, or some shit like that. But my interest sure is piqued.

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