Childish Gambino today released two new singles, ‘Summertime Magic’ and ‘Feels Like Summer’, under a ‘Summer Pack‘ release on streaming platforms. The new songs are set to be on the rapper’s upcoming fourth studio album, which will be his first since 2016’s Awaken, My Love!
With temperatures high across the world (and the UK even in the midst of its longest heatwave on record), the new tracks couldn’t be more appropriate. Experimenting with Caribbean steel drums, African-style percussion and sunny acoustic guitar, the songs are simple odes to a girl in the summer.
The breezy new tracks mark a striking change in direction for the artist, whose previous single, This Is America, saw him at his most political. Backed by an acclaimed video by Hiro Murai, the track soon went viral and topped the charts around the world, garnering around 330 million YouTube views in just 2 months. Its complex and subtle message received serious attention, with fans and critics alike interpreting the track as a sustained critique of police racism, political violence and gang crime.
The rapper (real name Donald Glover) is headed to the UK this weekend for an appearance at Lovebox 2018, in Gunnersbury Park in London. Click here for some last-minute tickets. On his European tour later this year, Glover is playing at the O2 Arena in London on 4th November. Click here for tickets.
A multi-talented performer, Glover’s main career is as an actor, comedian and director. He shot to fame in the NBC sitcom Community and received Emmys and Golden Globes for his work on Atlanta, which he wrote and directed. In an interview with Variety magazine, Glover also confirmed that the forthcoming studio album will be his last as Childish Gambino. Explaining the decision, he argued that “endings… are important to progress.”
“I think like, if a lot of things had death clauses in them, we wouldn’t have a lot of problems in the world, to be honest”, he said. “So I think endings are good because they force things to get better.”
