Childish Gambino Changes It Up

2016 was a year filled with tension and strife. It bred a controversial presidential election, took the lives of important figures in pop culture, Britain left the European Union, and racial tensions were at all time high. The list could go on. It seems that 2016 was a horrible year for everyone—everyone except for Donald Glover, or as you may also know him, Childish Gambino. The renaissance man of entertainment had an amazing year. He wrote and starred in his critically-acclaimed show Atlanta, he received news he’s about to become a father, was casted as Lando Calrissan in the upcoming Han Solo Star Wars film, and now he’s celebrating the release of third studio album titled Awaken My Love!. Yeah, you can say Donald is doing pretty well for himself.

The months leading up to the release of Awaken were met with great anticipation from fans. Over the summer, Gambino tweeted a link to to a mysterious app called “Pharos.” Pharos, the Greek name for Stari Grad, is a Croatian Island where one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World once stood. The app contained a timer, which caused an uproar of speculation across the internet. Some hypothesized it would be a live-streamed listening party exclusively through the app or  a new album would be released for purchase. Once the countdown was over, the app revealed that Gambino would debut new music at a three day event/festival September 2-4 in Joshua Tree in California. When the time came, he held multiple performances over the weekend in a large dome structure. Upon entry to the dome, fans were treated to a virtual reality-like experience. Images projected upon across the inside of the dome included dancing aliens, skeletons, and moving planets amongst other things. Gambino, decked out in tribal attire and body paint, performed several new tracks that would eventually become the Awaken project. In addition to the extravagant audio-visual performance fans could watch Glover’s new show, Atlanta, at an amphitheater on site. Shockingly enough, fans were forced to lock their cell phones in a “Yondr,” bag, that would not be unlocked by staff until after the performance. This prevented fans from being able to take videos/photos and sharing them on social media. Thus, making an event already shrouded in secrecy all the more mysterious. However, fans who missed the Pharos event wouldn’t have to wait too long to listen to Gambino’s new music. The album was set to release on December 2, only three months time from Pharos.

Awaken My Love! is the third installment of Glover’s musical project, Childish Gambino. The album follows the 2011’s Camp and 2013’s Because the Internet. Although Gambino’s been known to push his creative boundaries—even going as far as creating a 75 page screenplay for Because the Internet— Awaken My Love! might be his boldest endeavor yet. Depending on who you ask, fans that are familiar with Glover’s work will love his new album or be in for a rude awakening. He’s gone in a completely new direction. Although we were introduced to Gambino as a rapper, there is no rapping on Awaken My Love!. Instead he’s traded 16 bars and tongue twisting lines for titillating falsettos and funky melodies. It’s almost as if Donald Glover found a time machine, and locked himself in a room with Marvin Gaye, Sly and the Family Stone, and George Clinton.

On Awaken My Love!, Childish decided to opt out 808 drums and trap beats for more a live band feel. The album has clearly taken a departure from his prior production and is an homage to 70’s rock, funk, soul and R&B. One of the most notable tracks is “Redbone,” in which Glover lays out his suspicions that his girlfriend is cheating. Relationship and intimacy issues have been a constant theme in Donald’s work. The fact that it’s a song about cheating almost tricks the listener, because the song is so irresistibly sexy. Donald’s high pitched voice over a funky bass line and soulful drums deceive us into thinking this is a bedroom anthem. The song “Me and Your Mama,” was the first track that Glover put out prior to the album’s release. It’s an epic, dream-like mash up of wailing screams, distorted guitar riffs, and emotion. In this song, Glover pleads to a girl he’s deeply in love with and tells her “let me in to your heart” He claims it isn’t puppy love and desperately tries to win her over, but to no avail it seems. It’s another sad tale of unrequited love.

Donald Glover just can’t win when it comes to the game of love. In the song “Zombies,” Glover sings, “All I see is zombies…They can smell your money and they want your soul.” As an entertainer, fame is an unavoidable aspect of the job and Donald Glover is known for staying away from the public eye. Perhaps, the zombies that he speaks of are all the fake people that are by his side waiting to sabotage him for their personal gain. This is a theme that Glover has touched on in previous tracks. The hook is sung by the “zombies”, and they sing “We’re coming out to get you…We’re eating you for your profit.” It’s difficult to blame him for feeling this way. When someone reaches the level of success that Glover has, there will inevitably be opportunists that will befriend you only to leverage their careers. This track is a little bit slower and spacier. Soft drums lead the song accompanied by Gambino’s silky singing. He doesn’t scream as much as he does on other tracks. Not to mention the amazing guitar solo at the end.

One of the weaker tracks on this album is “California.” How many times do we have to hear a song about the golden state? It features Glover singing in a whiny tone over a groovy, beach-inspired guitar riff and background female vocals. It’s a very laid back song which makes it stand out against the rest of the eclectic songs on the album. Like other songs on Awaken, the happy melodies completely differ from the darker subject matter. Here, Glover sings about how the girl wants to move to California for fame and fortune, but only peril and extortion wait for her there.

Donald Glover made a great decision trying to switch up his sound. Today, the rap game is saturated with carbon copy, Soundcloud rappers that all have the same sound. Glover is to be commended for taking a leap into something different, something real, and something exciting. He truly is a man of many hats and between acting, rapping, writing, he really can do it all. It’s too bad that we didn’t get a chance to hear Gambino rap, but there is plenty of articulate wordplay and deep lyricism and themes to go around on Awaken My Love!. The production is solid, although some of these songs sounds way too familiar to the era from whence they came. It would have been nice to see the production expanded a little bit more to make it more original. The critics have not been fair to Glover’s prior musical works in the past, but this album is worth the praise.