Goodbye, Gambino!
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Emma Marshall, Arts Editor |
Donald Glover set out on “The New World” tour this year to perform an international closing ceremony for his rap-alias, Childish Gambino. With 58 shows booked-out across the globe, fans were quick to score tickets to see Gambino perform for the last time.
However, this ongoing tour was interrupted after Glover announced the postponement of the remaining North American dates. In a post on X, Glover wrote that he has, “to postpone the rest of the north american tour to focus on [his] physical health for a few weeks.” He is set to resume the tour in France in early November.
Later this month, Glover was slated to take the stage in Western Canada with concerts lined up in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. Though he promised fans that all tickets will be permissible for the rescheduled dates, he failed to offer any further information on when that may be.
The history
Glover first mentioned the retirement of Childish Gambino back in 2017 after a dispute with Glassnote Records. During a live performance at the Governors Ball Music Festival, he told fans his plans to withdraw from the stage name. In an interview with HuffPost, he further explained that his music career no longer felt “necessary” and that, “there’s nothing worse than a third sequel.”
During this time, fans anticipated his final albums, but the artist was hard at work with other projects. From 2017-2019, Glover moved on-screen, developing projects like the second season of “Atlanta,” as well as working on roles in “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, “Spider-man: Homecoming”, and “The Lion King.”
It wasn’t until earlier this year that Childish Gambino made a bitter-sweet comeback. In May, he re-released his pandemic project, now titled Atavista and told fans this was one of the last works of Childish Gambino.
Soon after, he dropped his fifth and final studio album, Bando Stone & The New World, accompanied by the long-awaited news of his final tour.
His fanbase
His consistency with music over the past 10 years has procured Childish Gambino a dedicated fan base alongside four certified-platinum records and over 25 million monthly listeners on Spotify. His top song “Redbone” from his third studio album currently sits at over 1.5 billion streams.
Childish Gambino’s music is loved by fans not only because of his musicality, but also because of the messages he embeds in his work. Glover has been a voice for anti-racism in the USA, with one of his major hits being “This is America” – a song about the unglamorous realities of being black in the USA.
The video he released alongside the song made waves all over the world, with scenes of societal unrest juxtaposed by his upbeat dancing and cheery demeanor throughout the piece. Glover includes depictions of riots, looting, and gun violence – all issues that are increasingly prevalent in modern America.
Glover’s career is littered with double-entendres. Exemplified through his TV productions and music, this satire is most evident in his performances and overall rap persona.
Vigilance is rooted in his stage name – Childish Gambino. Though sources online say Glover found the name from a Wu-Tang Clan Name Generator online, there are discrepancies in this claim and it has yet to be proved entirely true.
Gambino is an Italian surname dating back to one of the five families controlling organized crime in the USA. Going by “Childish Gambino” means Glover is coining himself a criminal of sorts, going against the pop culture grain to speak on the sensitive underbelly of American politics in a wildly reckless, or “childish,” way.
By using his stage platform to shed light on the problems in American politics, Childish Gambino became both a musical star and political advocate. This traction means that for fans, his music is a safe-place of recognition and understanding as they navigate their own difficult situations.
This responsibility cannot be carried lightly, his actions as Childish Gambino in recent years seem to sell himself short. To fans who find solace in his music, this abandonment runs deeper than Spotify streaming, and bleeds into the very real and inescapable realities of life in the USA and beyond.
A figure that once gave unto fans his sermons is now pulling the plug while these political issues continue to spark around the globe. Many of his fans feel he is needed now more than ever.
We cannot deny Donald Glover his humanity, and the need to prioritize his own health above his career. He is highly decorated for a reason, and his significant strides cannot be overlooked.
Though Glover feels he completed what he set out to do with Childish Gambino, this breakup is felt on many levels and remains harrowing to dedicated fans. The love for his art runs deep, and those of us in North America wait patiently for his humble return.