It’s time to say goodbye to Childish Gambino. On Friday, Donald Glover officially released Stone Gang and the New Worldhis sixth and final album under the name Childish Gambino.
“It’s a big farewell album,” he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1.
The 17-track LP — which features the singles “In the Night” with Jorja Smith and Amaarae and “Lithonia” — is intended to be a soundtrack album for a film of the same name. Glover debuted a trailer for the film during screenings of A Quiet Place: Day One and at the 2024 BET Awards earlier this summer. Glover has yet to release the film, and it’s unclear when it will be released.
“The soundtrack forces the audience to participate in a way that I don’t feel like most things force you to participate. It forces you to have imagination,” he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “All of these things allow you to have to participate, which a lot of things don’t ask you to do, and that’s why I think a lot of things feel flat.”
Ghanaian-American star Amaarae is heavily featured on the record, joining him on the album opener “H3@rt$ W3re M3@nt T0 F7¥,” on “In the Night,” and again on “Talk My Shit” with Flo Milli. The LP also features collaborations with Chlöe on “Survive” and Yeat on “Cruisin.” Glover also includes vocals from his 7-year-old son, Legend, on the track “Can You Feel Me.”
Glover will also take the album on the road during his New World Tour later this year, which he said is “made for arena rock” and is meant to be performed live.
“If this live show isn’t the best live show you’ve ever seen by the first song, you can get your money back,” Glover said. “When you hear all these songs, you’ll recognize them. I’m going to add all these new songs. I’m going to add all this new technology, but the live event is what makes it valuable to me.”
Glover first announced Stone Bando in April, when he revealed that he would release two LPs as final projects under his Childish Gambino name. “We’re releasing Atavistbut after that, there’s Childish Gambino’s latest album — a soundtrack for the fans,” he said at the time. Atavist served as an official re-release (and partial reimagining) of 2020 3.15.20.
While promoting the record, Glover teased the new album on his Instagram Live. “I feel like people aren’t having enough fun… When I was a kid, there were big things that brought us together and I feel bad for you guys,” he said of the record last month. “I feel bad for some of you.”
In 2017, Glover told the Huffington Post during a promotional event for his show Atlanta that he was planning to retire the nickname at some point.
“There’s nothing worse than a third sequel, a third movie, and we’re like, ‘Again?’” he said. “You know, I like it when something is good and when it comes back, there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do it.”
