Damon Albarn's 2-D character starts off this piano-led ballad lamenting a lost love. Atlanta singer and rapper 6lack steps in with a melancholy Auto-Tuned verse where he questions whether their relationship was real, while recalling happy memories of their time together. Elton John croons the mildly psychedelic chorus and outro where he continues to reflect on the dead romance.
The titular Pink Phantom has a double meaning, referring to: A pink 1960 Rolls Royce Phantom V that Elton John once owned. The ghost (phantom) of the dead relationship. (The color pink is typically associated with love and romance).
A childhood ride in Elton John's Rolls Royce Phantom V that thrilled the young Damon Albarn inspired the song. Albarn recalled to Mojo magazine: "When I was about 7 or 8 - and this initially sounds very weird - I got picked up from school in Elton John's pink Phantom by his percussionist Ray Cooper, who was a friend of my parents. I was going to his nephew's party, who was my friend. It was very, very, very exciting." Many years later, Albarn told Gorillaz animator Jamie Hewlett about this vivid childhood memory. "He said, 'Well why don't do you write a song about it and do it with Elton?'" Albarn recalled. "And that's how 'Pink Phantom' came into being."
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