Donald Glover explains why he’s retiring as Childish Gambino

Donald Glover has shared why he’s choosing to retire the Childish Gambino moniker – see what the rapper had to say below.

• READ MORE: Childish Gambino – ‘3.15.20’ review: rap’s Renaissance man lets guard down with most personal record to date

Tomorrow (July 19), he will release ‘Bando Stone & The New World’, which he says will be the final album to come out from the Childish Gambino moniker. The album can be pre-saved now.

The ‘Bando Stone & The New World’ album will also serve as the official soundtrack for a new movie of the same name. Donald Glover revealed the trailer for the film recently, though the film has yet to receive a release date.

Speaking to the New York Times, the actor, rapper, comedian and writer spoke about bidding adieu to Gambino. While recording the album, Glover came to a realisation: “It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.”

But that’s not the sole reason. He shared that working on the album – and the Bando Stone film – he was faced with several questions about which areas of his life he should be dedicating energy to. After the death of his father and the birth of several kids, Glover now wants to focus on his family apart from his acting career and his production company Gilga.

He also told the New York Times that other factors including the “continued decline of album consumption” and “disruptions in the touring business” have played into his decision to retire Childish Gambino. He’s also no longer interested in chasing chart success.

“Success to me is, honestly, being able to put out a wide-scale album that I would listen to,” he said. “For this album, I really wanted to be able to play big rooms and have big, anthemic songs that fill those rooms, so that people feel a sense of togetherness.”

Most recently, Glover shared a new single with Jorja Smith and Amaarae called ‘In The Night’ earlier this week. It’s the second track to come from the ‘Bando Stone’ album, and follows ‘Lithonia’, which arrived earlier this month.

In May, Glover released his latest album ‘Atavista’. He took to social media to announce the release of the album, which is the “complete” version of his 2020 record, ‘3.15.20’. The album, now available on streaming, sees the musician rework tracks from the 2020 record, as well as the addition of a new song, ‘Little Foot Big Foot’.

‘3.15.20’ was awarded four-stars by NME when it was initially released in 2020: “Glover’s willingness to share such a candid moment on record is particularly interesting given his past proclivity towards keeping his private life largely offline, and may be a sign that the star is beginning to let his guard down as the outside world continues to try to peer in.

“It’s an approach that Glover is applying to his musical output at least, with the impressive ‘3.15.20’ well worth the wait — we’ll keep our fingers firmly crossed, then, that he doesn’t give in to his past evasiveness and take the record down again…”

In other news, Childish Gambino recently confirmed the dates and venues for his ‘New World’ tour, which will take in the UK, Europe and Australia later this year and into 2025. Check out a full list of tour dates here and visit here to purchase tickets.

Recently, Glover called out the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards for having the same amount of awards as Sam Smith. “This isn’t personal but I just feel like I should have more BET awards,” he started. “I’m serious. It’s the Black Entertainment Television Awards. How much more entertaining do I have to do? Because it’s just the math of the fact.”

“It doesn’t really make sense,” the polymath added. “I have more Grammys than Will Smith, which makes no sense, but I have the same amount of BET awards as Sam Smith. Does that make sense to you guys? Me and Sam Smith are neck and neck at the Black Entertainment Television [Awards]”. Glover won for Best Music Video for ‘This Is America in 2019, whilst Smith nabbed the 2015 Award for Best New Artist.