Childish Gambino Hints At Retirement, Announces Final Two Albums
Fresh off his surprise Coachella performance during Tyler, The Creator‘s set, Childish Gambino has announced his final two albums: Atavista and the soundtrack to Bando Stone & the New World.
During a late-night livestream on Sunday (April 14), Gambino revealed, “We’re releasing Atavista, but after that, there’s the final Childish Gambino album — a soundtrack for the fans.” While live, he previewed the original soundtrack for Bando Stone & the New World, which he confirmed will be his final album as Childish Gambino.
Prior to the livestream, he tweeted, “GILGA Radio tonight @ 11 pm pst. live streamed on Instagram @donaldglover.” A fan questioned, “Music??” to which Gambino responded, “of course. It’s a rollout dummy.”
According to Uproxx, Atavista is set to be a “re-worked version” of 3.15.20. He’s been teasing his new album since last year.
“I’m actually in the studio. I’ve been bringing people in, like secret people, working on little things. I’ve been just making it for fun right now. But soon something will happen. I promise,” he teased backstage at the 2023 Golden Globes. By December, he was telling TMZ the album was coming “soon.”
However, he’s been hinting at retiring his Childish Gambino moniker since 2017.
He explained to Huff Post that he didn’t feel his music career was necessary anymore, noting, “There’s nothing worse than like a third sequel, like a third movie, and we’re like, ‘again?’ […] Like I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things, and I always had a reason to be punk. Being punk just always felt really good to me, and we always looked at Atlanta as a punk show, and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore. As much as ‘Redbone’ is a punk song because it’s a gospel song that’s on the radio, I’m like there’s only so far you can go before you just are the radio.”
The forthcoming LPs would be the rapper’s first solo projects since 2020’s 3.15.20. Last year, he released a joint EP with Ni’jah and KIRBY for Swarm, the thriller miniseries he co-created that is currently streaming on Prime Video. Gambino will continue to pursue other endeavors under his real name, Donald Glover.