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Stay Woke! Childish Gambino is back with his first new music since 2016's Awaken, My Love!, 'This Is America'.
In a wild change of pace from the Funkadelic-inspired sound of his most recent release, the hard-hitting new track harkens back to Donald Glover's early form and finds him taking aim at police brutality and America's continued obsession with guns.
It arrived in the middle of his appearance on Saturday Night Live in the form of a well-choreographed, one-shot video, directed by Hiro Murai. Filmed in a large warehouse, the clip alternates between humorous, light-hearted scenes of a shirtless Glover dancing around with school kids and more graphic, chaotic scenes where he guns down a choir and shoots someone tied to a chair.
Fans of the Emmy Winning-series Atlanta will probably see similarities between the show and this video as one of the major themes of the series is Glover's take on being black in America. Check out the intense clip below.
Skip YouTube Video FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame. YOUTUBE: Childish Gambino Youtube
Donald Glover pulled double duty on SNL, both hosting the show and performing as Childish Gambino. Shortly after the video dropped, he also performed the new song as his second musical spot of the night. Check it out below.
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In August, Gambino revealed he'd been working on new music in London and inked a new record deal with RCA.
And he's reportedly showing off more new music on tour. He's doing a co-headline run of US shows with Vince Staples through September and October. He's also bringing his immersive VR concert experience, Pharos, to New Zealand in November. So, there's outside hope he'll make a visit Down Under but nothing official announced yet.
The 34-year-old has said in the past that after one last album, he'll be retiring the Childish Gambino name. "I like endings and I think they’re important to progress... [they're] good because they force things to get better," he told press following his big win at the Grammys for Awaken, My Love!
We still don't know how Glover's got time for music around his on-screen commitments to his award-winning series Atlanta, playing Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Simba in the upcoming remake of The Lion King. But hey, since we're on the topic. About that rumoured Chance The Rapper collab...
RELATED: 'If Chance & Childish don't drop their mixtape soon, I'm going to steal and hide Ballina's Big Prawn'
Image copyright Childish Gambino/YouTube
Childish Gambino, AKA Donald Glover, has dropped a surprise new track called This is America.
The song appeared online during his performance as host on US sketch show Saturday Night Live.
Its video and lyrics switch between serious and funny, making comments on American life and current issues, including police violence, racism and gun crime.
The artist has said his next album will be his last under his stage name.
The Grammy winner also debuted another track called Saturday - his first new music since his 2016 album Awaken, My Love!
Image copyright Childish Gambino/YouTube
The video for This is America sees Bino dance erratically through a warehouse, interacting with scenes going on behind him - including a car on fire, a horse riding past and schoolchildren dancing.
At one point he shoots a man in the head.
The video is made to look like it's been filmed all in one shot.
Its director, Hiro Murai, has worked with Donald Glover before on his TV show Atlanta and other Childish Gambino music videos.
Image copyright Reuters
Donald Glover appeared on Satuday Night Live to promote his new film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, where he plays a young Lando Calrissian.
He recently gave an MTV Cribs-style tour of the Millennium Falcon from the film.
He's also starring as Simba in the upcoming Lion King remake, opposite Beyonce's Nala.
He recently released another piece of work packed with pop culture and current references - a fake script for his Deadpool animated series, which was cancelled.
Fans have been pretty positive about the surprise new music.
Skip Twitter post by @TonytheProphecy Childish gambino is who Kanye use to be to me back in the day... This is America — Tonytheprophecy (@TonytheProphecy) May 6, 2018 Report
Lots of people commented on his alter-ego - in his Saturday Night Live monologue, Donald Glover said: "We've got a great show for you tonight, Childish Gambino is here".
Skip Twitter post by @nlongman9 I’m watching Donald Glover on Saturday Night Live.
Childish Gambino just dropped a track.
Childish Gambino performs a DIFFERENT new song on SNL.
This guy just TOYS with the internet man. It’s his world and we’re just living in it. — nick (@nlongman9) May 6, 2018 Report
Others commented on how far he's come in the last few years.
Skip Twitter post by @CinematicEX In 2013 in ‘Because The Internet’ , Childish Gambino references Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Lion King. Now 5 years later He was in last year’s Spider-Man Homecoming, Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out at the end of this month and He plays Simba in Lion King next year. — chandler (@CinematicEX) May 4, 2018 Report
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While hosting and performing on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Donald Glover dropped a new song and music video under his stage name Childish Gambino.
Titled “This Is America,” the visually remarkable music video, which contains some graphic imagery, is a stirring commentary from Childish Gambino on the state of America as he dances with children in a warehouse in one moment then guns down a gospel choir in the next.
Hiro Murai, a longtime collaborator with Glover on his FX hit Atlanta and his music videos, directed “This Is America.” The video follows Childish Gambino traveling through the warehouse as a multi-layered and constantly shifting scene unfolds behind him.
“This is America / Don’t catch you slippin’ up,” Gambino raps. “Look how I’m livin’ now / Police be trippin’ now / Yeah, this is America / Guns in my area (word, my area) / I got the strap / I gotta carry ’em.”
“This Is America” is the first song and video Childish Gambino has released since his 2016 Grammy-nominated album Awaken, My Love! Fans took to social media in the hours after the video’s release, praising Childish Gambino for his social commentary and artistry.
Along with the debut of the music video, Glover performed the song as Childish Gambino during his Saturday Night Live performance.
Glover hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time over the weekend ahead of the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, in which he stars as Lando Calrissian. The multi-talented artist, who joked about his many passions in his SNL monologue, made history last fall at the Emmy Awards when he became the first black person to win a best-directing comedy award. He also won the Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy. Earlier this year, he won a Grammy as Childish Gambino for Best R&B Performance with his hit “Redbone.”
