Donald Glover, who goes by the stage name Childish Gambino, announced earlier this year that he would only be releasing two more albums under the name Childish Gambino. The first of these albums was released recently and is called “Atavista”.
“Atavista” is the rereleased version of Glover’s previous album that was released in 2020 called “3.15.20”. In a Gilga Radio Instagram Live Glover said “We put it out kind of quickly, I didn’t master or mix it [when it was released].”
This new release of “Atavista” gave Glover the chance to finally finish “3.15.20” how he wanted to. The previous version of “3.15.20” has now been removed from Spotify and Apple Music but has been left up on other streaming services such as YouTube.
“3.15.20” wasn’t released as a regular album with individual tracks listed but rather released on streaming services as one 57-minute song that could have been split into multiple songs. There are natural lulls in the main song that designate spots where songs begin and end.
Within “3.15.20” you can hear songs that have the same sound such as “Algorhythm”, the second track on the album, appearing near the beginning of the 57 minutes. Though some of the songs sound similar, they are different and unique.
You can hear subtle differences within each song where it is apparent that Glover spent more time mixing and mastering the music compared to his previous 2020 album.
Glover’s newest album is one that he put a lot of extra effort into. Glover has released five albums, most of them within five years from 2011 to 2016. From 2016 to today Glover has only released one album and that is “Atavista”
Along with the album release, Glover also released a music video for one of the tracks called “Little Foot Big Foot.” This music video is shot in all black and white while giving off the appearance of a classic black-and-white movie.
Unlike most music videos this one has an intro that helps build a story behind the shoot. It shows Glover going to perform at a bar with two other people and even goes as far as talking about an uncle who is a lawyer in town.
This music video has a bit of Glover’s past in it with a more comedic effect to it. About halfway through the video, it looks as though a person is going to shoot Glover but he spins around and accidentally hits the man. This then causes someone in the crowd to laugh before Glover picks up the song again.
“Atavista” may be an album based upon “3.15.20” but there are aspects throughout it from different periods in Glover’s life. With this being his second to last album Glover has a lot more to impress people with.
Connor Anderson can be reached at [email protected]