By Seth Koskey Actor, singer, rapper, director, producer, comedian, and writer Donald Glover has starred in many TV shows like NBC comedies, Community and 30 Rock, FX’s drama comedy Atlanta, and many others, while acting in movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story. The reason we’re here today is to shine a light on his music, in which he goes under the pseudonym Childish Gambino, a name created by the Wu-Tang Clan name generator. Childish Gambino has released four full-length LPs along with two EPs throughout his nine year music career, which he announced was finished after the release of his last single: Feels Like Summer in 2018. Obviously a nine year career couldn’t have ended in 2018 with his first EP (EP: 2011) being released in 2011. Childish Gambino released a new album on March 15, 2020, only available on his website for 12 hours under the title 3.15.20. On March 22, 2020, the album was released on all music streaming services. It is unknown if Donald Glover’s music career is over, but no matter what, he will have left a consistent and illustrious discography. His crowning achievement in his career varies wildly from fan to fan, but since this is my opinion and my review, I will be looking at his 2013 album and in my opinion, his best work: Because the Internet. A quick backstory for the album shows it was recorded during the fourth and fifth season of the TV show Community, in which Donald Glover was present for half of season five, before leaving the show to work on other shows and music. Knowing the circumstances he was in, working on a full length album must have been stressful, and would probably affect the quality of the art, but not in this case.
0 Comments
By Linnaea Derner On September 25th, Joji dropped his third album “Nectar”. The album included 18 songs, some new and some singles that he had already released prior to the album. Most of the tracks follow Joji’s style: lo-fi, piano, and a light bass line.
Joji, aka Pink Guy, aka Filthy Frank, aka George Miller, got his start making music on YouTube. On one of George Miller’s YouTube channels, TVFilthyFrank, he released comedic videos and music that his alter ego “Pink Guy” produced. The music and their videos are not suitable for children and often got him in trouble with the general public. In 2017, due to health concerns, Pink Guy/ Filthy Frank stopped posting on YouTube to focus on a more serious music career. In February of the same year, Pink Guy (now professionally known as Joji) uploaded his music chart-topping song “Worldstar” on 88 Rising Youtube channel. 88 Rising is a “hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company" in the words of its founder Sean Miyashiro. 88 Rising’s goal is to help Asian singers get traction in the west. 88 Rising has singers like Joji, Niki, Rich Brian, and Jackson Wang--all people who are widely known in the east. 88 Rising also produced Joji's third album Nectar. Song number 3- “tick". While most of the songs “sounded” like Joji, there were two songs that caught my attention: “Reanimator” and “Your Man”. "Reanimator" has a kind of electronic instrumentation and no vocals until halfway through the song. This differs from Joji’s other songs because he usually doesn't let the instrumental intro go for that long. The other song: “Your Man” is about Joji being there for the person who he loves and who loves him, the song has a hopeful air that a person will come TO like that. My favorite song off of Nectar is “Tik Tok”, I like the melody and the bass beat. Compared to the other two of his albums, I would give Nectar an A. |
EditorCategories
All
|