Donald Glover knows no bounds to artistic expression. From acting, producing, writing, singing, and performing, his newest album, “Awaken, My Love!” (AML) was merely the imminent product of an experimental soul.

 

Far removed from his previous indulgences in hip-hop, Childish Gambino has embraced the 1970s sound of Funk and Soul, exploring its integration into the modern soundscape. This funk sound is coupled with his narrative reflection upon parenthood, and the unstable nature of his intimate relationship with the mother of his son.

 

The album initiates with the aptly titled song, “Me and Your Mama,” with a broad harmonic choir, “I’m in love when we are smoking that la-la [Donald’s slang for weed].” The song transitions into hard guitar riffs as Childish belts out rock vocals pleading for his significant other to open up to him, since “this isn’t puppy love”, even though Donald fears “this is the end of us.” The meaning here is one of a romantic love on the surface, with ugliness underneath, yet Childish cannot let go of her.

 

Midway through the album on “California”, he implies that the woman is occasionally delusional, spending her time making videos and uploading them to social media. In a track that steps away from the funkadelic sound, he compares her to a girl who believes she belongs in Hollywood, where he believes she will fail. It is in this upbeat track where Gambino expresses himself in dialectic vocals blissful woodwinds and vibrant clapping.

 

On arguably the album’s best track, “Redbone”, Gambino illustrates this woman as “peanut butter chocolate cake with Kool-Aid.” The song’s title is slang for a light-skinned African American with potentially mixed lineage. With this line, Gambino implies that he has had to drink the “Kool-Aid” and ignore the fact that she’s probably involved with more men than just himself—for which he warns her, “don’t close your eyes,” implying she should make sure he’s still there in bed with her or he’ll probably be out pursuing others as she has.

 

Much of AML pays homage to music of Gambino’s childhood, as he talks to his son about things he will end up facing as he becomes older. “Have Some Love” reimagines the musical style of George Clinton’s “Funkadelic” with a chorus of positivity, “have some time for one another / really love one another.” As the song continues, the important facet of using the voice as an instrument is introduced on the album as Gambino’s voice embodies the sonic characteristics of a mute-strummed bass guitar. On “Redbone” he screams in a way he defines as “sexual and scary,” something he sources to “Funkadelic.” Additionally, Gambino seems to borrow from Prince as well. He begins the song with a simplistic beat that continually builds, as instrumentation, and eventually a gospel choir is added to ensemble. In some ways, AML is historically out of place, but its social conscientiousness is equally as present.

 

Through most of his endeavors, Donald Glover usually acknowledges the poor state of racial relations in America, and on AWL, he fears its potential influence over his son’s life. On “Boogieman,” Childish sings “with a gun in your hand / I’m the boogieman.” Gambino paints himself as the “bogeyman” that police are afraid of, but more importantly, the “boogieman” that “they [the man, the system, etc.]” are afraid of, as he empowers individuals through music and his culture, which is often systematically oppressed by institutions of power. Only through music and art can you “fly high,” as Gambino sings in the track.

 

His aim stays firm into “Zombies,” which comes to represent the world, industry, and record labels that set out to culturally appropriate various genres of music by “eating you for profit.” Zombies typically go after brains as well, which is why Gambino has “business to make a mind.” The instrumentation on the track consists of natural instruments alongside heavily distorted chord progressions, not unlike actually distorted zombies, which are all Gambino seems to see around himself and his family.

 

In the final songs of the album, Donald Glover shifts more focus onto his son, blessing him in both spoken word and song, without any vocal distortion aside from one moment of auto-tune--likely an allusion to Kanye’s “Pinocchio Story” on 808s & Heartbreak. He tells his child over a musical breakdown on “Baby Boy” that “there was a time before you / and there will be a time after you / and though these bodies are not our own / walk tall, little one, walk tall.” Completely monotone, Gambino’s voice is sincere, since he knows that his son “may cry alone” as he has, when he realizes “where all of this is headed [death].” To that end, Donald replies simply, “smile when you can.”