The aisles of grocery stores are barren. All major concerts and sporting events are canceled. The stock market is crashing. Citizens across the world have been encouraged to stay inside. Thousands of people are dying. Even Americas dad has tested positive for adeadly virus thats now responsible for a worldwide crisis.
But in the middle of these bleak, unprecedented times, one thing that we can stay positive about is new music. In the past 48 hours alone, weve been blessed with a second collection of songs from Lil Uzi Vert in as many weeks, an exceptional debut album from Don Toliver,Jay Electronicas long-fabled debut album (featuring JAY-Z!)and more.
As if that wasnt enough, Donald Glover returned in the very early hours of Sunday with a surprise new project that streamed in a loop on his new website, donaldgloverpresents.com,until it mysteriously disappeared later in the evening. As of now, the project has no title, although some have pointed out that Donald Glover Presents is also the name given to his adidas partnership. It appears to consist of 12 tracks, including guestfeatures from 21 Savage, SZA, and Ariana Grande.
Without further ado, lets get into it. As with everything Donald Glover creates, whether from his Childish Gambino persona or not, this one will take more than just one day to completely unpack, so well do that in the coming weeks. But for now, I wrote down some initial thoughts aftera few spins. Here are eight big takeaways from Donald Glovers surprise collection of new music.[Note: All song titles referenced below are placeholder names being commonly used by fans until an official tracklist is revealed.]
The context that surrounds an album always influences the way its received by listeners, and theres no doubt in my mind that Donald Glover was intentional about sharing this collection of music exactly when he did. In the midst of a global pandemic, he chose to present these songs alongside hand-drawn artwork depictingsociety in the throes of hysteria. And although its likely that most of this music was recorded long before words like COVOID-19 and social distancing were inescapable, these songs reflect the chaotic, unpredictable feeling of the day. One moment, Donald delivers sweet, sunny melodies onSweet Thing / Thank You, before things turn apocalyptic on Algorythm, where he growls over dystopian electronic production:Humans dont understand, humans gon sell a lie/Cause humans gotta survive, we know we gon die.
Even though its probably beenon a hard drive somewhere for months (or years), Donald had to have known this line would hit different right now: Why go to the party/Why go to the party/Why go to the party at all. Hes always had an anxious perspective on the future of humanity, and this comes through vividly on a song like Time where he sings, Seven billion people/Tryna free themselves/Said a billion prayers/Tryna save myself/I can see it coming/But it'smovingfast. Can you think of a better refrain for March, 2020? Its still unclear exactly what the plan was behind the release of this music, but it feels like Donald was sitting on music that he realized was naturally aligned with the tone of a global pandemic, and decided to share it with the world. With the recent news that the third season of Atlanta has been put on hold due to coronavirus outbreak concerns, we know Donald is feeling firsthand anxiety from this pandemic. It wouldnt be a stretch to think he hand-picked a collection of unreleased songs from his stash, with the specific goal of soundtracking a moment like this.
Instead of uploading these songs to traditional streaming platforms, Donald chose to share them in one continuous loop on his website until Sunday evening. When listeners arrived at the site, they were plunged into the middle of a stream, wherever it happened to be at the time,with no knowledge of where they were in the tracklist. There were no song titles, no credits, no explanations at all. Not only was this a unique, refreshing way to experience music in 2020, completely void of context,it also acted as a unifying way to hear an album for the first time. No matter where you were in the world, you were hearing the same song at the same time as everyone else who was tapped in. Considering the fact that everyone is similarly unified by the same life experiences right now (being locked down in isolation), this feels like a deliberate choice from an artist who has a fondness forexperimental, collective listening events. RememberPHAROS?
A couple years ago, Donald Glover kept telling everyone hewas planning on retiring Childish Gambino.Now, it seems that may have just happened, considering this project was shared as Donald Glover Presents, without any mention of his Childish Gambino alias. After listening tothis music, which isstylistically miles away from the rap-centric material he was making when he used a Wu-Tang Clan name generator to come up with Childish Gambino, this decision makes a lot of sense. Donald isnt the same artist as he was back then. Gone are the days of the punchline raps we heard all over Camp. Now, he wants to sing. Hed rather make genre-defying, melodic music than stick to just one style. Fortunately for fans, it seems a complete retirement from music isnt imminent. Instead, its the beginning of a new erathe Donald Glover era.
Donald Glover took a sharp stylistic left turn on his 2016 album, Awaken, My Love!which veered away from his hip-hop origins in favor of R&B, psychedelic soul, and funk. On this new collection of music, he continues that evolution. Here, Donald leans even harder into his R&B influences, but this time, hes a little more in line with 2020 pop music. Where Awaken, My Love!was criticized by some as being a pastiche of bygone eras, these songs feel more fresh. This time, he injects his influences with distinctly modern furnishingsplaying with forward-thinking electronic production techniques, vocal effects, and contemporary songwriting methods. And the addition of guest vocals from 21 Savage, Ariana Grande, and SZA doesnt hurtto make this thing feel more current. After being overshadowed by his influences the last time around, Donald is now coming into his own and bending these sounds into a form of his own making. The evolution of Donald Glover just took another step forward.
Whether its writing surreal storylines on Atlanta or dramatically switching genres without warning, Donald Glover has always liked experimentinga tendency that isnt lost with these new songs. Midway through the opening track (or at least whats being commonly referred to as the opener) Warlords, he hits us over the head with jarring electronic production and nearly indecipherable lyrics, creating an unsettling mood. Its as if hes telling fans, If you were expecting an album full of straightforward pop songs after the release of Summertime Magic and Feels Like Summer, think again. Im still going to fuck with you a little. But unlike some of his experimental moments in the pastthink Riothes figuringout how to execute on these ideas in a more effective way. The moments of experimentalism feel more intentional now. On songs like Algorythm, he deliberately makes use of an abrasive electronic beat to convey a feeling of paranoia and unrest. Alternatively, a cut like Sweet Thing / Thank You takes on a calming, euphoric feeling thanks to a kaleidoscope of diverging sounds. Either way he takes it, the experiment works.
Donald Glover and 21 Savage first connected in late 2018 on i am > i was standout, Monster, a song that featured Donald rapping harder than wedin years. Now, on Vibrate, theyve connected again, with results that are just as thrilling. After Donald bounces aroundall over the beat, flipping from nimble raps to soaring falsettos, Savage anchors the song with a typically menacing verse, highlighted by lines like, Got a girl in Harvard, I talk proper when I call her/Baby, I'm a baller, ain't no way that I can rob ya. Theyre two for two. Forget that long-rumored Chance the Rapper and Childish Gambino collab project. We need a joint album from 21 and Donald!
In early 2016, Donald Glover became a father for the first time when he and his partner, Michelle White, had a son named Legend. Now, hes including his children in the creative process for the first time. On the outro of, Dont Worry About Tomorrow (The Violence), we hear the voice of one of his sons, who playfully sings along with the melody of his father. Then Donald asks his son, Who do you love? Me and his son responds, Yeah. Any one else? Glover asks. Mom and Hulalo. And Santa/And I love-and I love Roland/And I love myself, his son says. Its a sweet look into the family life of a notoriously private figure,and an early glimpse at Donald Glover, family man.
My biggest takeaway from a first listen of these new songs is that Donald Glover is improving as a musician. As a working actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director, he has never been able to dedicate 100% of his time to music. So at times, he hasnt been able to properly execute his most ambitious musical ideas on Childish Gambinoprojects. Thats beginning to change on this project. Here, his skills as a vocalist have improved noticeably, as has his knack for overall songwriting. Hes leaning on his influences less,taking more calculated risks, and at 36 years old, his worldview has matured. His skills are still sharpening with age. We may never see the day that Donald Glover quits ever other creative pursuitand focuses all his attention on music, but for now, hes still somehow finding time to advance himself as a musician. Weve all beenrewarded with a new collection of songs that are, on first listen anyway, a marked improvement on Awaken, My Love!
See original here:
8 Big Takeaways From Donald Glovers Surprise Collection of New Music - Complex
- Make Money from Images, Documents and Photos Uploading - December 18th, 2016 [December 18th, 2016]
- Immortal but Damned to Hell on Earth - The Atlantic - January 29th, 2017 [January 29th, 2017]
- Hands on review: Zencastr podcast maker - The Sydney Morning Herald - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- How to keep your children safe online as it's revealed half of six-year-olds use the internet - Mirror.co.uk - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Yetunde Olasiyan: Between Having a Voice & the Need to Show Off on Social Media - Bella Naija - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- How a WiFi Pilot Program Is Helping Students in the Rio Grande Valley - KUT - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- These Shows Understand Why TV Cannot Survive Without The Internet And They're Doing Something About It - Decider - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- 10 reasons to not miss John Bender at El Club this weekend - Detroit Metro Times - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Ideal Flatmate promises to stamp out all roommate worries - The Tech Portal - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Five ways to ensure your kids are safe as they go 'online' - The Standard (press release) - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- How to improve your LinkedIn profile - ArabianBusiness.com - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Deal: New customers can get Google Play Music and YouTube Red free for 4 months - Android Authority (blog) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Breaking Down Global Silos (Part 2): Lessons Learned from Conflict - Spend Matters - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Issa Rae New Series Giants Is A Must Watch - CampusLATELY (blog) - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Fake news, who benefits? - Shelbyville Times-Gazette (blog) - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- GST beneficial for traders, says official - The Hindu - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- It's time to get tech-savvy with The Mind Lab by Unitec! - Scoop.co.nz - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- 'Being an Irish author is more of a Grimm fairytale than a Cinderella story' - Irish Times - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Barbie becomes a hologram version of herself - TechCrunch - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- PLYMOUTH BUSINESS EXPANSION: MycomPETibility.com goes nationwide - Wicked Local Kingston - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- The three reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber - Polygon - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- SnailBlitz 2017: Citizen Scientists Wanted - NBC Southern California - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Nikon D5600 Review: Hoping to Make Photo Transfers a Snap - Huffington Post - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Appealing Social Security Decisions Online - CBN News - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- How to file your social security appeal online - WZZM13.com - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Meteor is OpenSignal's own speed test app - SlashGear - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Data limits are the worsthere's how to stay under yours - Popular Science - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Overcome problems with public cloud storage providers - TechTarget - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- When Words Beget Blows - Outlook India - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- A man with vitiligo who was called 'zebra' by bullies has defied their cruel comments by becoming a model - The Sun - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Shark Tank's Robert Herjavec coaches kids to fuel entrepreneurial spirit - VentureBeat - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Everything new in Stellaris: Utopia, one of Paradox's biggest game updates ever - PC Gamer - March 10th, 2017 [March 10th, 2017]
- IN TRANSIT: The Idol Maker - Mumbai Mirror - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Paytm to continue free uploading of money - Business Standard - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- The perils and false rewards of parenting in the era of 'digi-discipline' - Minnesota Public Radio News - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Showtime docu-series sees the 'Dark' side of tech - LA Daily News - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Elon Musk: Australian man pens desperate letter to download his brain - NEWS.com.au - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- How Vestas Wind Systems used outsourced machine learning to transform contract management - Diginomica - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Wednesday Web Artist of the Week: Eva Papamargariti - ArtSlant - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Your Obsolete Brain: Life and Death in the Age of Superintelligent Machines - Digital Journal - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Under Armour launches its first customisable shoes - just-style.com (subscription) - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- I Don't Care What You Think, I Love My Facial Birthmark - SELF - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Cable: Where Are We Headed After This Political Meltdown? - Seeking Alpha - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Best Screen Recorders Top 10 Screen Capture Software - Gazette Review - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Nigeria just got a verified Twitter handle - TechCabal - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- Just keep pinning: why your business should be on Pinterest - Cambridge Network - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- Track-by-Track of Paramore's 'Riot!' Read Through Emo Teen Memories - Noisey - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Decision day for Go Forward Pine Bluff - Pine Bluff Commercial - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- Addressing rape culture - News24 - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti Says Being a Good Astronaut is All About Teamwork - Fortune - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Google Drive will soon make it easy to Backup and Sync PCs, Macs - SlashGear - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- What's worse than getting phished? Getting phished *and* sending a selfie of your Photo ID and credit card - Graham Cluley Security News - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Track Of The Day 16/6 - Maximillian - Clash Magazine - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- AROUND TOWN: GOP chairman questions Ossoff's London office - MDJOnline.com - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION: ITS Fiber brings fast connections, data center services to local business - TCPalm - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Fiberlink Internet Packages & Prices 2017 - TechJuice (press release) (blog) - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- CS Editors: Creating Content - Security Sales & Integration - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- How to post a GIF to Facebook - Tech Advisor (registration) - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- The Living Vampire / Real Vampire FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - HuffPost - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Facebook Is Introducing New Tools to Protect Women in India - Fortune - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Mum drops off daughter at college then sends her hilarious texts with football team - NEWS.com.au - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Is Chrome OS right for you? A 3-question quiz to find out - Computerworld - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Facebook wants to stop creeps from downloading your profile picture - TNW - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Action and Emotion - lareviewofbooks - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- 6 ways to be more hirable and 1 that could land a job today - Deseret News - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- Searching for a Career? Set up a Free Profile at AutoCareCareers.org - PR Newswire (press release) - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- Industry Job Seekers Can Set Up A Free Profile At AutoCareCareers.Org - AftermarketNews.com (AMN) - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- Steve Mitchell The Mind of Watercolor Blog - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- How to Upload to Google Drive - Cloudwards - July 1st, 2017 [July 1st, 2017]
- Stevie Ryan, YouTube personality, found dead at home - Blasting News - July 4th, 2017 [July 4th, 2017]
- 5 tips to a delicious food photo - Orlando Sentinel - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- Gordon Hayward the best Jazz wing player of all time? Not what the numbers say. - SLC Dunk - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- 36 Years of Loretta's - Racer X Online - July 6th, 2017 [July 6th, 2017]
- How to Work on Your Laptop at a Coffee Shop Without Being a Jerk - Lifehacker - July 8th, 2017 [July 8th, 2017]
- There's a new most-viewed Youtube video, pushing Gangnam Style off the top spot - Buzz.ie - July 12th, 2017 [July 12th, 2017]
- How to prevent bandwidth throttling with a VPN - T3 - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- Google will now let you back up your entire computer for FREE on its servers - Mirror.co.uk - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- Google Drive Backup and Sync lets you backup your entire computer: Here's how it works - BGR India - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Why Mythology Still Matters: Wisdom from Game of Thrones' 'Dragonstone' - Big Think - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Mum somehow manages to convince her daughter her nipple's fallen off in hilarious text exchange - Metro - July 18th, 2017 [July 18th, 2017]