Donald Glover Surprised Everyone With a Brand-New Album
The coronavirus pandemic is spreading illness, fear, and confusion. But because it's caused American cultural institutions to grind to a halt, it's also spreading boredom. Broadway has gone dark, movie releases are delayed, concert tours have been cancelled, and even late night TV shows have gone on hiatus. If there's anything a lot of people could use right now, it's art and entertainment that's new but that can be consumed safely within our own homes. Enter Donald Glover.
The Atlanta star surprised everyone by releasing a full album of new music on Sunday. So far, it's only available on the Donald Glover Presents website, where the songs are streaming on a loop. Rolling Stone reports that features include Ariana Grande, 21 Savage, and SZA. But the album also has some familiar tunes, like "Feels Like Summer," a 2018 Childish Gambino single that featured an incredible music video chock full of animated hip-hop cameos, and "Algorythm," which, fittingly, has been used in ads for Google Pixel.
Glover has released music steadily over the last few years; "This Is America" debuted at number one in 2018, and last year he released the film Guava Island, which was full of original tracks. But this is his first album-length release since 2016's Awaken My Love—and it could be his last.
Glover has long promised to retire his Childish Gambino alter ego (which, judging by the Donald Glover Presents title, it looks like he's doing here), and has said that would be his final album. "There’s nothing worse than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’" he told HuffPost in 2016 about his decision to end his music career. “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." New music from Donald Glover could get a lot harder to come by, so enjoy it while you can.
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