3.15.20 is the fourth studio album released by artist, actor, comedian, writer and director Donald Glover under the stage name ‘Childish Gambino’. The album from the Gramm-winning artist comes after a four year drought since his previous album ‘Awaken my Love’ was released in 2016, receiving critical acclaim. He exploded into the media with his video of ‘This is America’ which portrayed racially motivated violence in the United States in 2018 and followed with a few more singles, leaving this album highly anticipated.
The new album contains noteworthy features such as Ariana Grande, 21 Savage and Kadhja Bonet as well as collaborations with DJ Dahi and established producer Ludwig Gӧransson. Sticking to his love of the unconventional, Glover’s latest album is widely regarded for its experimental and unusual approach, however, acquired mixed reviews with some hailing it while some considering it a failed experiment. But then again, Childish Gambino has been known to be a controversial artist.
The album’s bizarre title is believed to be inspired by the date at which it was first released, 15th March 2020 on Glover’s website donaldgloverpresents.com, before it was taken down 12 hours later and officially released a week later on 3.22.20 to all music streaming platforms. Due to his background as an actor, writer and director, Glover makes his music a piece of narrative fiction with Childish Gambino as the storyteller. In the same vein, Gambino released a promotional artwork with the release of his new album showing a scenario he envisioned in a dream, where ‘all the people screamed and clawed at each other’, which was inspired by the internal discord he was experiencing after the death of his father.
Moving on, all the songs in this record are named after the run-time at which they play in the entire length of the album, with the exceptions of ‘Algorithm’ and ‘time’. Largely compared to the Kanye West of the start of the millennium, 3.15.20 opens with a disappointing track ‘0.00’ which echoes the words ‘we are’ repeatedly over the course of 3 minutes without any direction to it. Thankfully, the next song ‘Algorithm’ on the record is a clear elevation from the first track with its electronic funk and soulful foundation together with its andante. It preaches against human dependency on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how our decisions are being increasingly made by AI. Consequently, ‘Time’ featuring Ariana Grande is about us running out of time as a species and an impending doom awaits. Its easy-going nature with its lo-fi sound makes it a song to vibe with. Featuring 21 Savage and Kadhja Bonet, ’12.38’, Gambino shows the full range of his vocal length with transitions between high pitch vocals, Atlantic raps and a soulful chorus. 21 Savage’s contribution was particularly impressive in that he timed it perfectly with the backdrop into a seamless passage between from Gambino’s expressive vocals to the dreamy synth-funk ending the song.
The following song ’19.10’ is my personal favorite. This choice is cemented in its bouncy funk-pop tonality, industrial drums as well as groovy & rhythmic beats. The song talks about the virtues Glover’s father wanted him to inculcate as a man along with the world trying to scrounger off the beauty of black culture, as he quotes “to be beautiful, is to be hunted”. Continuing with this trend, ’24.19’ without a doubt oversaw the best production among all the other songs of the album, with listeners even forgiving its incredible length. The background beat to this song is so harmonic that it almost draws the listener into the song. Despite its quite simplistic rhythm and lo-fi sound, Gambino’s electronic vocals complement the music beautifully. I would go on to say Gambino’s vocals are the closest he has ever gotten to the same in his ‘record of the year’ Grammy-nominated song ‘Redbone’.
Sadly, this album takes a turn for the worse with the next couple of songs, starting with ’32.22’ with its awful theme from the start to the finish. The atonality and absence of any sort of melody make it a pain to listen and while initially sounding half-decent, further visits to ’35.31’ have revealed only otherwise to me due to its repetitive make-up. In similar fashion, ’39.28’ simply sounds like Queen gone horribly wrong. The latter are just results of taking gambles with experimentation, to put politely.
Thankfully, Glover is able to pick it up from this stage onwards to give a better ending to this album. ‘Feel like Summer’ from Gambino’s Summer Pack EP (2018) is renamed to ’42.26’ and included in this album. As the album approaches its end, we’re greeted with record ’47.48’ which delivers an important message about the violent culture and unjust character of our society, from which he has to protect his kids, along with the other issues brushed upon in the previous songs. The slow and soulful rendition which is developed in the song together with the adorable conversation with his 3-year-old son about self-love, at the end is a good finishing touch to the ambient vibe of the song. The album ends with ’53.49’ which acts like the typical energetic last show of a performance. This song takes back the listener with the high tempo and aggressive vocal beginning by Gambino, especially after the past couple songs were borderline chill-contemporary. Truly, as the last song, it fulfils nearly every checklist: raps, crescendos, ballads and melodic chorus etc.
There’s a reason why albums created under the name ‘Childish Gambino’ are considered musical events of those years, and not merely compilations of tracks. Glover sure does take long breaks between his albums as seen in during all his releases, but boy when those albums drop, and the world gets another glimpse of the genius that is Donald Glover, we are reassured of the fact that he is indeed ‘the most prolific creator of our generation’ as expressed by hollywoodreporter.com. In spite of its few shortcomings, 3.15.20 is beyond any shadow of doubt, another masterpiece added to his discography. It is substantially consistent with its lo-fi hip hop identity and succeeds in warning us of global issues such as violence, racism, human-made apocalypse and much more in these testing times.
Favourite Record: 19.10, 24.19
Least Favourite Record: 32.22
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