ATLANTA — Donald Glover is officially ending his Childish Gambino era.
The Emmy- and Grammy-winning polymath, who’s made music under his rap alter ego for more than a decade, released his last album “Bando Stone and the New World” on Friday. The LP is a soundtrack to his IMAX film of the same name (for which an official release date has not been confirmed).
“Bando Stone and the New World” twists from electronic pop to guitar-laced folk, cocky rap and sultry funk and R&B — posing as a neat playlist of all the sounds that formed Childish Gambino. The album often trades cohesion for sonic diversity, but the songs are so well-produced that order and placement don’t matter.
The new project arrives two days after Glover scored acting and writing Emmy nominations for Amazon Prime Video’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” In May, he dropped “Atavista,” a reworking of his 2020 album “3.15.20.” The project featured fellow Georgia artists Summer Walker and Young Nudy. His latest release marks the conclusion of a six-album, genre-shifting musical exploration that made him a darling of blog-era rap in the early 2010s and, later, a Grammy-winning artist.
Glover earned his first Grammy win with “Redbone,” the 2016 Parliament-inspired hit from his psychedelic funk album “Awaken, My Love!” He followed that success with the politically charged anthem “This Is America,” which debuted at No. 1 in 2018. The song won four Grammy Awards, including record and song of the year.
Of retiring his rap persona, Glover, 40, said making music doesn’t bring him the same fulfillment as it did when he was younger, especially when paired with his many additional creative obligations. But while his Childish Gambino days may be over, he didn’t explicitly say he’ll stop making music altogether.
“I’m not 25 anymore, standing in front of a boulder like, ‘This has to move,’ ” the Stone Mountain native recently told the New York Times. “You give what you can, but there’s beauty everywhere in every moment. You don’t have to build it. You don’t have to search for it.”
Here are key moments from the album:
Women dominate the features
The 17-track album boasts exciting features that are almost all female artists. Glover links with fellow Georgia native Chloe Bailey for “Survive,” an ethereal groove that sounds like the glorious song you’d hear after finishing a summer hike. Elsewhere, he enlists Amaarae (twice), Flo Milli, Jorja Smith and Fousheé for songs “Talk My (expletive deleted),” “In the Night” and “Running Around.”
Other features on the album include rapper Yeat, surk-funk band Khruangbin and Glover’s firstborn of three sons, Legend.
‘No Excuses’ is a standout track
“No Excuses” is the best song on the album. It’s roughly seven minutes long and wades from soothing funk to meditative jazz. Throughout the track, Glover’s falsetto transforms into a balm that can cure any broken heart. Etched in choral chants and dizzying saxophone chords (the later is thanks to jazz great Kamasi Washington), the song perfectly captures the sweet solitude of being at peace with nature.
Farewell, Childish Gambino
The album ends with “A Place Where Love Goes.” It’s another choir-backed song that finds Glover reflecting on his abundant success over the years. The Max Martin-produced track is as buoyant as it is spiritual – making an appropriate closer for Glover’s Childish Gambino chapter.
“All my life/I had to try to survive/But it is all right now/We found a place/A place where love goes,” Glover echoes in the chorus.
