The entire idea behind the project is, and perhaps always was (dating back to the three songs released in 2018), to be intentionally and almost aggressively vague and mysterious as a means of mimicking the mysterious nature of our universe. He wants you to be perplexed and yearn for answers. My theory, put most simply, is that Gambino/Glover’s intention was to make the album purposely confusing.
ALBUM COVER CHILDISH GAMBINO SERIES
All of these intangible elements work to embolden the musical tone of the project but they also cloak it in a shroud of mystery.Īll of these mysterious elements inspire a series of questions: Why did Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, make these perplexing artistic choices? Why make the tracklist mostly numbers rather than give the songs traditional titles? Why name such a brilliant body of work after a seemingly arbitrary date? And why in the world wouldn’t he christen it with an actual image on the cover? And lastly, as far as the actual music goes, why would he litter the album with all kinds of strange, ambient transitions and risk making it sonically offputting to listeners? My Theory, In Short And then you see that the tracklist is largely, but not entirely, composed of ominous numbers, giving the impression of timestamps. Then, you find that the album cover is simply an all-white box, essentially a non-cover. First, you read the title and see that it’s a date, 3.15.20, which only kind of makes sense given that’s not even the day the album was officially released on streaming services. The oddity of 3.15.20 begins before you even press play. I feel like if I do that… it doesn’t feel good to me.” With that as a reference, it’s no surprise that that same man would go on to make one of the most peculiar albums I’ve ever seen or heard. In an interview for the release of his 2018 film Solo, the interviewer attempted to glean the significance of the music video’s ending, to which Glover replied, “I don’t want to give it any context. Perhaps most famously, he firmly declined to offer any explanation for the meaning of his “This Is America” music video. However, the way it blends various genres and then stitches itself together with exceedingly experimental transitions makes the album, well, unique.ĭonald Glover has always been notorious about leaving the meaning of his projects unexplained and up for interpretation. I’m not going to attempt to put a genre label on 3.15.20. 3.15.20 Is Very, Very Mysteriousģ.15.20 is beautiful and jubilant in certain areas then haunting and borderline indecipherable in others. Even with those projects setting the stage, none of us could have expected what he gave us with 3.15.20. Awaken, My Love! had signaled the prior while “This Is America” and Summer Pack – EP intimated the latter. We all knew that Gambino’s next project would likely be genre-bending and somewhat experimental. The release was sudden and the rollout was peculiar, though warmly greeted by fans who had been waiting almost three and a half years. After much waiting and rampant speculation, it’s finally here. That, or you could say he was simply taking his sweet time. This music-less period likely had much to do with his cinematic ventures and position as a new father.
However, Gambino dove back into the shadows and left us guessing for over a year. The album cover for Gambino’s 2018 release, Summer Pack – EP. Between the three songs, a new album appeared to be imminent.
He followed that up in July 2018 when he released Summer Pack – EP which included the tracks “Summertime Magic” and “Feels Like Summer”. “This Is America” signaled a grand reemergence and led to fans everywhere sniffing around for a new album. Then, after a year and a half of near radio-silence, musically speaking, Gambino dropped one of the hottest music videos of the decade in May 2018. A Long-Awaited ReleaseĬhildish Gambino’s last studio album, Awaken, My Love! came in late 2016. Here are my theories about the mysterious nature of the new Gambino project. The surprise release has fans everywhere simultaneously dancing and scratching their heads. On March 22nd, 2020 he released his fourth studio album, 3.15.20.
ALBUM COVER CHILDISH GAMBINO TV
He’s been in some of the biggest movies of the last few years, including Solo and the live-action remake of The Lion King, created one of the biggest hit TV shows in recent memory, Atlanta, and somehow found time to break the internet under his musical stage name, Childish Gambino. He’s a Grammy-nominated multi-hyphenate who has dominated the last decade in film, television, and music. By now, you’ve probably heard of Donald Glover.
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