By: Tiffany Scott
Exec. Business Manager
The highly anticipated follow up to Childish Gambino’s “Awaken! My Love”, “3.15.20” was finally released on March 15 to his website donaldgloverpresents.com before being taken down twelve hours later.
The new LP was given a proper release by RCA Records on March 22 and is the fourth studio album by American Rapper Donald Glover under his stage name Childish Gambino. The album includes twelve songs and features artists such as Ariana Grande, Kodhja Bonet, and 21 Savage
The album feels like a blend of everything Gambino has given us over the last decade combining the typical lifestyle sound of “Kauai” with pop from “Because the Internet”, and the artistic maturity and cultural awareness of “Awaken! My Love”.
The album’s second track “Algorythm” is built on an electronic funk and soul foundation and brings up the concept of living in a simulation which exists throughout the whole album. Towards the end of the song there is a strong Prince influence over futuristic 80s pop music and a synthesizer which at times feel like extensions of Redbone.
“Algorythm” is followed by “Time”, an exploration of Gambino’s feelings, of our consistent confusion, and feelings of imminent doom in the world of today. However, Gambino’s vocals do not come through as strongly and Ariana Grande outperforms him in this song. The peak of this album is the next track, “12.38” in which everything in the album is brought together beautifully— there is rap, there is soul, and the radio and futuristic sounds are blended in perfectly.
“19.10” focuses on Gambino’s father teaching him the values of self love to prepare him from a world where he will experience scrutiny and exploitation. As he grows up, he plays with a tug of war with his insecurities which makes him hesitate. It’s off putting considering these are the same thing which helped make him famous.
“24.19” is another track about a figure in Gambino’s life, it expresses appreciation for his wife for always seeing the good in him and sticking by him and remaining one of the only consistently good things in his life. However, the song drones on for eight minutes and could have gotten the point across in four. In “47.48”, Gambino expressed his fear of putting his child in the world he’s described up until this point. The song is slow, funky, and groovy but again, takes too long to get the ideas out.
“35.31” has a humorous and joyous tone with a country foundation which could be potentially jabbing at America for demonizing the drug culture and braggadocio that can be found in mainstream rap but not addressing the same themes in country music. The track sticks out oddly from the rest of the album and it does not add much to the conversation surrounding drug culture.
While the album concept is admirable, it tends to get lost in its own message. With songs like “0.00”, “32.22”, and “39.28” which all have very isolated sounds and sonically build up to nothing, the album shows it prioritizes aesthetics over content. It at times sounds more like a rough draft that is unfinished or like a sound track rather than an individual musical endeavor.
Gambino talked a lot about himself in this album, and although it is interesting musically and has goals that are really easy to support such as self love, breaking free, and appreciating things that make you happy, it is done so in a way that is not inclusive enough to resonate with listeners and feels more like a compilation than an actual concept.
“3.15.20”ws relased on March 22. The album is available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube and can be purchased on platforms such as iTunes.
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