Album Review: “Awaken, My Love!” by Childish Gambino

On December 2nd, Donald Glover/Childish Gambino’s new album was released, titled “Awaken, My Love!” This album leads Donald in a new direction away from rap/hip hop and into the realm of R&B. Some songs sound like they were heavily influenced by the Alabama Shakes, but Donald has had a variety of influences ever since he was rapping. It is interesting to see him move in a new direction with his music and it was obvious that he was going to a genre other than rap after he dropped his STN MTN and Kauai mixtapes.

As an avid fan of Donald Glover, I have watched and listened to almost everything he has released including everything from the TV show “Atlanta” to the “I am Just a Rapper” mixtapes. This review is a subjective opinion and is by no means objective in any way, however, I will try to give a fair opinion of the album and talk about my likes and dislikes. I will go over each song individually, with reasons why I liked or disliked the song. I will also list my favorites and least favorites in order.

Me and Your Mama- This song is the first on the tracklist and is one of the most impressive out of the entire album. This song is an incredible expression of passion, which is displayed in both Donald’s lyrics and more obviously his voice. I think most breakup songs are more passionate than love songs, but this is one of those few love songs that stand out as an exception. There are essentially three parts of this song. The first part isn’t much to talk about in my opinion, it is a dainty warm up to the intense passion in the middle/main part of the song. The last part is just the cherry on the cake and brings a smooth transition into the next song with some chill bass.

Have Some Love- The second song is a much more community vibe type of song. The guitar, chorus, and the clapping bring a nice atmosphere to the song. It has a consistent tempo and is generally a “feel good” song.

Boogieman- This song is one of the more disappointing tracks in my opinion. It starts strong  with a grandeur feel and has an awesome instrumental with the addition of electric guitar, however, I was turned off by the tuning in Donald’s vocals. Although Donald has rapped for most of his music career he has a good singing voice. I want Donald to sound like himself on these songs. Donald does a variety of things with his voice in this album; some of these variations are good, but others are simply aesthetically displeasing.

Zombies- This song has good theme in terms of lyrics and the subject of “Zombies.” This is another example of Donald’s variations of his voice. In parts of the song his voice sounds classy and smooth, but in other parts I was turned off by auto tuning. This song has it’s ups and downs. The instrumental part of this song was decent, but there weren’t really any highs or lows in terms of sound. This song has it’s ups and downs.

Riot- This song has lots of energy and there is no transition from the last song. It immediately breaks into a strong funk that is also fast. The vocals are generally smooth, while the instrumental has many instruments that are creating a variety of unique sounds. This may not sound like a good mix of smooth vocals and funky instrumental, but it works quite well.

Redbone- This song has the most funk and some of the best vibes on the album. On this track Donald strays from his natural sounding singing voice, but it sounds good. If Donald is going to deviate from what his natural voice, this is what I want it to sound like. The drum beat is steady and the bass matches the pace of the vocals and rest of the song. This track has a good variety of sound, despite having the same vibe and steadiness. Overall, it is an excellent slow jam.

California- This song feels more like Hawaii or a tropical island than California (But I live in NJ so what do I know). Once again this isn’t one of the variations of Donald’s voice that I would like to hear. The background singing doesn’t add as much as it does for the other songs on this album.

Terrified- The catchy bass is very noticeable in the beginning. The singing on this track reminds me of Donald’s singing voice on Urn from “Because of the Internet.” The song is pretty good in terms of aesthetic, ambiance, and sound in general, but doesn’t have a highpoint of any kind.

Baby Boy- This song is by far my favorite on the album. It has a consistently chill vibe, which is a good start. On this song Donald doesn’t even have to sing like he did in Me and Your Mama for me to feel the passion. You can feel the love for his baby, the bass is good, and the instrumental in general is high quality for a chill track. The backup singing does add to the vocals and the “distant sounding” vocal part that Donald does sounds great aesthetically. The organ part is a good transition for Donald’s “talking moment.” This “talking moment” is the highlight of the track, in which Donald stops singing and says “And there was a time before you and there will be a time after you. Though these bodies are not our own. Walk tall little one, walk tall.” directed at his newborn son. After doing some research on the front page of Google I realized the message of the line “Though these bodies are not our own.” Despite the struggles of black men in America, Donald tells his son to walk tall.

The Night Me and Your Mama Met- This song has a hard act to follow, but because it doesn’t have any lyrics it allows a smooth transition from Baby Boy to the end of the album. This song tells a story without using any words. It starts very slow and starts to heat up by adding chorus and eventually a screaming electric guitar. In the end of the song a bass is added and the electric guitar is dropped which indicates to me that things are different from the way that the night started. The end of the song is also slightly more “full” of sound than the beginning, which had a very basic rhythm and less instruments.

Stand Tall- The last song on the tracklist addresses the Stand Tall message that was mentioned in Baby Boy. This definitely has that “Last song on the album” vibe because of the chorus, more lyrics, and being slow paced. Donald has don’t the “Last song on the album” vibe on a few of his albums, the most notable one being the monologue in That Power. The flute in Stand Tall is used properly, unlike in California. The second half of the song starts strong with the chorus as well as long and drawn out “electric waves.” It then transitions into a acoustic guitar part with clapping, chorus, bass, and vocals that slowly get more high pitched. With all of these elements this part of the song feels “full and complete.” It is a good note to finish the album on.

That concludes all of my opinions on the individual songs and why I liked or disliked them. Now here is the list of my favorites and least favorites in order:

Favorites:

1.Baby Boy

2.Me and Your Mama

3.The Night Me and Your Mama Met

4.Redbone

5.Riot

6.Have Some Love

7.Terrified

8.Stand Tall

Least Favorites:

1.California

2.Boogieman

3.Zombies

As an album, I enjoy that Donald Glover trying to make the kind of music that he wants to make, expanding his horizons from just rap. “Awaken, My Love!” is well produced, has good vocals, has some brilliant highlights. Although it does not shine consistently through the entire album, I enjoyed most of these songs and was not disappointed by Gambino’s reappearance into the music scene after two years. “Awaken, My Love!” is much different than his other albums and as a fan I hope to see new music of any kind from Donald Glover in the future. For a numerical rating I will give this album a 7.5 maybe an 8 out of 10. Reminder that my rating is completely based on my personal enjoyment and is in no way objective. Thank you for reading.

Photo credit to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Awaken,_My_Love!%22