Donald Glover has been busy lately, reinventing television with Atlanta, stealing the show in Star Wars movies and still finding time to work on a new Childish Gambino album, which is thought to be his last under the moniker.
Glover last released a Gambino album with the Grammy-nominated ‘Awaken, My Love!’ in December 2016. Here’s everything we know so far about its follow-up.
Why is Glover retiring Childish Gambino?
Discussing his reasons for retiring his rap project, Glover told The Huffington Post in June 2017: “There’s nothing worse than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’ You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”
Glover has spoken about Childish Gambino being a temporary project in the past. “I want to have periods in my life. I feel like Childish Gambino is a period that should come to a close. I like endings,” he said back in 2015.
Could it be his last album altogether?
Perhaps – Glover’s creative director Ibra Ake hinted in an interview with radio station WNYC that the forthcoming LP is Glover’s “last” record completely.
“I think we like to keep stuff under wraps, but there’s more coming, and we like to think of ourselves as like the Avengers every time we can assemble and all our schedules are in line,” Ake said of future plans in the pipeline.
Ake added: “So that’s happening right now and we’re working rapidly to just get as much out as we can. Especially this last run, to really make a big bang, because this is Donald’s last album.”
Glover recently opened up about his thoughts on the music industry, saying that “no one has good intentions”.
Explaining his disenchantment with the entertainment industries, Glover said: “Before my first album came out, I wanted people to like me, and to realise that I had good intentions. Then I realised that no one has good intentions—we all just have incentives.”
When will it be released?
The album’s expected to be released at some point in 2018, coming via Wolf + Rothstein and RCA Records.
What songs could feature on the album?
Probably recent single ‘This Is America’, which came with a powerful and political video that went viral online. NME‘s Sam Moore previously wrote of the clip: “It’s the sort of agenda-setting, sit-up-and-take-notice work which only comes around every so often: it’s not even a stretch to describe it as a seismic moment in popular culture. You can watch it over and over again and still pick up on something new.”
As well as ‘This Is America’, Glover also performed another new song called ‘Saturday’ on SNL in May. That may also feature on the next LP.
What could the album sound like?
‘Awaken, My Love!’ saw Glover move away from the rap-leaning sound of the earlier Gambino albums and this next record could continue this path.
Glover has previously said: “I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things and I always had a reason to be punk. Being punk just always felt really good to me and we always looked at Atlanta as a punk show and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore. As much as ‘Redbone’ is a punk song because it’s a gospel song that’s on the radio, I’m like there’s only so far you can go before you just are the radio.”
What happened to that Chance The Rapper collaboration?
In February 2017, Glover said that the two artists were planning on collaborating. “We actually, like, sat down in the studio and were talking for a little bit. When he has a moment, we’ve been sitting down and working together,” he said at the time.
Glover later said: “I feel like if I don’t make a Chance the Rapper mixtape, like a double mixtape, a bunch of 14-year-olds will kick my ass.“
Then in March of this year, Chance confirmed that the pair had collaborated, saying: “We perpetuated that rumour for a long time without recording anything… We did link up in Atlanta and record some tracks and… they’re amazing.”
Chance previously featured on the Gambino tracks ‘They Don’t Like Me’ and ‘The Worst Guys’ while Glover featured on the ‘Acid Rap’ track ‘Favourite Song’.
Has a tour been announced?
Glover recently announced a Childish Gambino tour with Rae Sremmurd. Glover will hit the road during September, playing shows in Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Houston, Dallas, Inglewood, Oakland, Seattle and Vancouver.
He is also set to visit the UK for what’s set to be a very special headline slot at Lovebox Festival in London in July.