Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!" ALBUM REVIEW

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I’ve covered Childish Gambino, a.k.a. Donald Glover, before, and I’ve been a fan of his. His albums have always had some type of value to me. Camp has the classic track “Bonfire” and I have the monologue at the end of “That Power” near-memorized, Because the Internet is an album that ran rampant during my middle school years, and his most recent release 3.15.20 has actually grown on me quite a bit since writing my review. I forgot to mention one release, though. That is “Awaken, My Love!”, Gambino’s 2016 R&B and funk detour. Yes, you know “Redbone” already, but what about the rest of the album? Let’s get into it and see how “Awaken, My Love!” is.

“Awaken, My Love!” is an R&B album with funk, psychedelic, and soul undertones. This album is a sharp left turn from Gambino’s usual rap tracks, and this was a much-needed change. As much as I love Camp and Because the Internet, I was worried that this sound was going to become stale for him. Oh, boy, this sound didn’t get stale. The sound of “Awaken, My Love!” is something on a whole new level of terrifying. It has a dark sound, even when it’s trying to sound happy or somewhat cheerful. Something always seems off about it, almost like the album’s cover art. It reminds me of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, along with the music itself being reminiscent of that album too. Many of the songs are great, like the opening track “Me And Your Mama” and “Terrified,” but the true centerpiece of this is “Redbone.” For the longest time, it was inescapable. The song was featured in Get Out, the horror movie that took the world by storm. It had also become a meme, and none of that ever took away from the fact that this song was one of a kind.

“Awaken, My Love!” doesn’t feel like a Parliament or a Funkadelic rip-off. In a way, it’s honoring them while feeling like a whole new sound for Childish Gambino. “Awaken, My Love!” feels like a timeless classic in the future, and along with that, “Redbone” will be a song I play for my children.


9/10


Stream “Awaken, My Love!” here

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