Donald Glover offered followers with a distraction from coronavirus quarantine on Sunday by surprise-dropping a 12-song new album within the wee hours of the morning. The assortment, which doesn’t seem to have a title past “Donald Glover Presents,” options appearances by Ariana Grande, 21 Savage and SZA. The album was not on streaming providers on the time of this text’s publication, however is streaming on a devoted web site — listen to it here.
No details about the album — even track titles — was instantly out there. The web site includes a four-panel illustration depicting a crowd of individuals in the midst of an obvious riot — a few of whom seem alarmed and panicked whereas others are excited, a scene that remembers Glover’s provocative and subtext-heavy video for his Grammy-winning 2018 track “This Is America.”
Glover, whose public statements are sometimes enigmatic, has stated for years that his newest tour and album could be the “final” one by his longtime alter-ego Childish Gambino, though the tour stretched on for months — with a number of dates delayed after the singer suffered an unspecified damage, which stories stated was a damaged foot, in September of 2018 — and the album by no means appeared, except Sunday’s launch is it. SInce 2005 Glover has launched three full-length albums and several other mixtapes as Childish Gambino.
Reps for Glover didn’t instantly reply to Variety‘s requests for extra info, though NME stories that an unnamed member of his administration staff retweeted a hyperlink, apparently confirming its authenticity.
While it’s unclear whether or not the gathering is the long-percolating “final” Childish Gambino album that the actor-singer apparently has had within the works for a number of years, it does embody three songs that appeared below Gambino auspices: the 2018 single “Feels Like Summer” (carried out on “Saturday Night Live” and on tour), “Warlords” (additionally carried out dwell) and “Algorythm” (additionally carried out on tour, and utilized in a Google Pixel industrial). Based on preliminary listens, it definitely appears that it could possibly be: The songs proceed with the texture of the music he launched in 2018 — which additionally embody “Summertime Magic” — combining conventional R&B with hip-hop, Caribbean and extra aggressive sounds.
Genius.com, an authoritative web site specializing in hip-hop lyrics and interpretations of them, lists the song titles, that are presumably educated guesses, as follows:
- Intro (Warlords)
- Little Foot Big Foot
- Why Go To the Party
- Feels Like Summer
- Don’t Worry About Tomorrow (The Violence)
- Under the Sun
- We Are (Interlude)
- Algorythm
- Time (Ft. Ariana Grande)
- Vibrate (Ft. 21 Savage & SZA)
- To Be Beautiful
- Sweet Thing / Thank You
One track includes a charming verbal change apparently between Glover and one in every of his two youngsters about whether or not or not they love themselves (they do, though the mother’s reply shouldn’t be heard). Glover has two sons, one in every of whom is called Legend, with girlfriend Michelle White. The closing observe options an autotuned vocal and at totally different instances remembers songs by Prince and Frank Ocean.
Glover/Gambino was basically all over the place throughout 2018-2019, along with his hit collection “Atlanta”; a number of singles driving the success of his 2016 album “Awaken My Love!”; a high-profile North American tour that included appearances ultimately 12 months’s Coachella pageant; a stellar 2018 flip as host and musical visitor of “Saturday Night Live“; roles as Lando Calrissian in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and because the voice of Simba in Disney’s live-action model of “The Lion King”; and a brief movie starring Rihanna referred to as “Guava Island.” However, he surprisingly dropped off of the radar after the final dates of his tour with out releasing a long-expected and teased album. Perhaps that is it.
