Atwood Magazine’s writers discuss Childish Gambino’s final album ‘Bando Stone and The New World,’ unpacking the songs themselves, the artist’s illustrious 14-year journey, and the legacy of musical innovation and disruption that Donald Glover’s alter ego now leaves behind.
Featured here are Atwood writers Ankita Bhanot, Ciaran Short, Dimitra Gurduiala, Dominic Kureen, and Minna Abdel-Gawad!
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To start, what is your relationship with Childish Gambino’s music?
Ciaran Short: I’ve been a fan of Donald Glover for what feels like my entire conscious life, particularly in terms of my relationship with the internet and the early mixtape and YouTube eras. I have a brother who’s five years older than me, so I luckily got exposed to a lot of music and comedy that I likely wouldn’t have otherwise, principally Childish Gambino and derrickcomedy. I have a very vivid memory of being about ten years old and my brother begrudgingly tolerating my presence with him and his friends, and hearing Childish Gambino’s first mixtape Sick Boi for the first time. His music sounded accessible to me in a different way than a lot of other hip-hop and I’ve closely followed everything Donald Glover has done in music, comedy, and pop-culture ever since.
Ankita Bhanot: Not only have I been a fan of Childish Gambino’s music for over a decade, but the man behind the musician‒Donald Glover‒is a personal hero of mine, in regards to his work ethic, dedication to his craft, and pursuit of many creative outlets, including comedy. Music wise, I was a sophomore in high school when Because the Internet was released, which was my first introduction to him. I remember hearing “sweatpants” for the first time and being completely captivated. I was already a huge rap music fan, but this was unlike anything I’d heard before. I watched the now-famous music video over and over, mesmerized by the plot of dozens of Gambino clones sitting around in a diner. It has the same eerie, sort of haunting yet darkly comedic quality that his show, Atlanta, also shares. “3005” showed off his sensitive side. It felt like rap music for nerdy kids who also loved Saturday Night Live. His third studio album, Awaken My Love, which is his most expansive and experimental work to me, was consistently on repeat in my college dorm room, and since then, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him perform at Panorama and Governor’s Ball in NYC, and SF’s Outside Lands.
Dom Kureen: I first became aware of Donald Glover when stumbling upon the captivating, fourth wall demolishing sitcom “Community”, in which he played a starring role. Back then, I was nowhere near conscious of the creative gamut the diminutive tour-de-force possessed.
For Donald, at that time known to me as ‘Troy Barnes,’ and subsequently to be repackaged as hip-hopper Childish Gambino, it marked the embryonic mainstream steps along his glittering artistic journey. This is indeed a modern day Renaissance man, one of those rare individuals who impresses with each new project he undertakes — be that stand-up comedy, acting, music or random works of art created from 4am feces — and seems unrelentingly filled with gusto as he enters his fifth decade still as vibrant and fresh of expression as he was when bursting onto the scene in the noughties.
Dimitra: From the beginning of his career, I knew who Donald Glover was, although I did not follow him closely. I remember well when I accidentally discovered “Bonfire,” when “This Is America” went viral, for example, but I didn’t delve into anything at the time – mainly out of laziness, I admit. I began to approach his work seriously only in 2020, with 3.15.20 – then republished this year under the name Atavista. I fell so much in love with “53.49” (which later became “Final Church”) that I looked into the artist’s discography, and it was just pure love.
Minna Abdel-Gawad: My relationship with Childish Gambino’s music was very casual up until about two years ago. I knew all his hits like “Redbone” and “3005” but it wasn’t until I intentionally decided last summer to listen to his discography front to back when I really understood his impact. I began by listening to his debut project Camp and quickly realized just how iconic Childish Gambino is. Camp was witty, funny, honest and a musically diverse project. I quickly started texting friends with different lyrics from the album that took me by surprise with the balance between honesty and comedy that this project seemed to exhibit. I was already a huge Donald Glover fan by this time having watched him in Community, Solo and Atlanta so I shouldn’t have been shocked but the juxtaposition between heavy beats and gentle instrumentals, heavy hitting, and at times hyperbolically ridiculous, bars had me sold immediately. Since then, I listened to the rest of his discography where I fell in love with his versatility, every album is an experience in itself and I’ve been patiently waiting for his next release!
What are your initial impressions and reactions to Bando Stone and the New World?
Ciaran: I think it’s an album particularly for Childish Gambino fans. Generally, I can listen to an album once or twice and feel like I’ve been able to internalize the concept without needing to revisit it, but not Bando Stone and The New World. I’ve listened to the album countless times already and every time I find I’m uncovering something new that ties back to previous projects. It has been really exciting to sit with some new music from Childish Gambino that explores a breadth of tones, themes, and genres.
Dimitra: Listening to it for the first time was… Quite intense. It sounded very triumphant to me, it really gives the impression of being the final chapter of a really exciting yet emotional book, but one that has to come to an end. Finishing listening to it was rather bittersweet, I’d say.
Dom: An album of juxtaposition, there are regular mash-ups of bowel grinding bliss and oozing sunshiney puss. I particularly enjoyed the intensely visceral and annoying titled “H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥”, although being a big softy who cries when it rains, there was a “Feels Like Summer” shaped void in the mix. I would love to have heard something along the lines of that seminal track, albeit my initial listen left me, much like Ciaran, wanting to hear the entire album again… so I did.
And you know what? In the words of a Naked Attraction contestant, for me at least, it proved to be a ‘grower, not a show-er.’ The Coldplay-like church organ intro of “Lithonia” and elegant progression of “Steps Beach” provide two of the highlights of a multi-tiered album which traipses across half a dozen genres without losing focus along the way.
Minna: One word: stunning. Bando Stone and the New World is unlike any other Gambino project. I felt like this was the perfect goodbye to Childish Gambino with him exploring and expanding on sounds that he’s always toyed with but never dove fully into. This is definitely his most mature and good natured project to date. I felt like this version of the Gambino persona was a lot more refined and grounded than in previous releases.
How does this album compare to previous Childish Gambino records like Atavista and “Awaken, My Love!” – what are the most striking similarities or differences?
Ciaran: In the musical universe of Childish Gambino, Bando Stone feels like it fits in particularly well with his affinity for bending genres and leaning into an alternative interpretation of what it means to be a rapper or a singer. Sick Boi, Camp, and Because The Internet demonstrated Gambino’s ability to rap, but even on these albums, his interest in melody and singing were present. He crossed a bridge with his artistry in his dual concept mixtape, STN MTN / Kaui, where he fully leaned into both his rapping and singing, essentially separating the two into different universes (rapping in STN MTN and existing in Kaui). “Awaken, My Love!” and Atavista seemed to further build on the musical concepts of Kaui, but Bando Stone and The New World seems to be a call back, merging the various musical styles he’s explored with an array of diverse musical moments.
Dimitra: As Ciaran already said, I think Bando Stone is a perfect blend of the artist’s love for both rap and singing. I’d say it’s a quite accurate summary of his career, so much so that it’s pretty diverse in its 17 tracks. Perhaps, here lies the biggest difference with his more recent works, which is that it’s not as homogeneous as them, in fact.
Dom: I’m a tad biased because of my love for Donald Glover — one of only four individuals I would knowingly take a bullet for alongside my cat, my girlfriend and Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. He could effectively release a track of him dry heaving into a drain for three hours and I’d probably label it ‘a triumph of concept art’, but that aside and parking the man crush for a moment, there is so much to appreciate on Bando Stone.
As previously stated, no track quite moved me in the way that “Feels Like Summer” managed when first massaging my auditory passages, but that’s more an observation of the height the bar has been set at by Gambino rather than criticism of this latest release.
Minna: I think every Childish Gambino album has a certain flare to it and Bando Stone is no exception. Gambino is genre bending, flowing between rapping and singing seamlessly as he always is. In comparison to the heavily electronic Atavista, Bando Stone is more of a quintessential Childish Gambino project with its drill beats, gospel rock and r&b classics.
Glover teased Bando Stone and the New World very briefly with “Lithonia” and “In the Night. Are these singles faithful representations of the album? What do you think of them as previews?
Ciaran: I really like “Lithonia,” but I personally don’t love “In The Night.” However, I think they successfully previewed that Bando Stone and the New World would be a sprawling album exploring various genres, finding Gambino both experimenting with new musical approaches and leaning into areas with which he’s already familiar.
Dimitra: They are! Perhaps I personally would not have chosen those tracks (just because they are not exactly my favorites), however, after listening to the album I would say that they represent the diversity of the album very well.
Dom: No! Although I appreciate “Lithonia” as one of the album’s apexes, there’s simply no way of representing such an eclectic LP through two tracks. Childish Gambino’s releases bounce around like a feline which has overdosed on cat-nip, and the full experience can only be gained through completing the story, although the initial releases did offer a glimpse into some of the finer fare on offer – stellar rap and prime time production for example.
To illustrate the point, “Steps Beach” is a gorgeous track which twangs at the heartstrings, and hot on its heels is the poetic potty-mouth of “Talk My Sh**”, which could almost be tracks from two separate artists.
Minna: I feel as though this album explores so many different sounds and could fall under so many genres that it would have been impossible to find a singular song to represent the sound of this album. I think “Lithonia” prepared listeners to hear something familiar from Gambino with him returning to a more rock gospel sound that he coined in his project Awaken, My Love! but expands upon it with this grittier sound. And “In The Night” is a great track with even better features, the gentle vocals of Jorja Smith and Amaarae along with the heartfelt lyrics showcases this new, more grounded direction for Childish Gambino. I think there is no way to accurately represent this album because of how different each track feels and I honestly appreciate that my favorite tracks were ones I got to discover actively on my first listen through and weren’t the singles- but I recognize that that’s a personal listening preference.
Bando Stone and the New World is the soundtrack to an as-of-yet-unreleased film of the same name. What do you make of that decision, to release the music before the movie, and how does it set the stage, or the “scene,” for the upcoming film?
Ciaran: By releasing the album first, listeners can consume the music without being overly swayed by the contents of the film. The film and album have a symbiotic relationship, mutually boosting audience engagement due to their staggered timing: the film’s anticipation turns the life and consumption of the album into a longer event, and when the film releases, this will inevitably give the album a natural boost in listenership. I think this was a great decision by Gambino, as it gives his fans something to really invest their attention in, as he’s built an immersive, multimedia world.
Dimitra: Personally, I love this choice. I have a habit of listening to a movie’s soundtrack before I watch it, so this only adds to the hype for Glover’s project – actually, it also reminds me that I should catch up on Atlanta, which I’ve actually heard good things about.
Dom: Bear in mind, this is Childish Gambino/Donald Glover/Troy Barnes – this man has acumen for whetting the appetite.
Releasing the album in advance of the picture gives the impression of a multi-faceted movie in the pipeline, certain tracks would lean towards tenderness, while others reek of destruction and disruption — or it could be a mind-numbing rom-com where J.Lo ties her hair up and works as a maid while being ignored, before our hero Gambino realises she’s the one and makes it to the airport just in time to propose. Either way, I’d probably watch it based on the album.
Minna: When it comes to Donald Glover visual projects I have learned to go in with no expectations, there’s always something kooky going on and I am more than ready for whatever is about to be thrown on the screen. I honestly have no clue how the music is going to manifest into visuals. I think it makes sense as this is the final chapter to the Childish Gambino persona for this project to be an album and I am glad that this release was more music forward and I’m almost looking at the film as the Donald Glover side of the project. We shall see, I have 0 clue what the narrative through line could be based on the album alone.
Which song(s) stand out for you on the album, and why?
Ciaran: My favorite moment on the album is the pair of songs in the middle, “Yoshinoya” and “Can You Feel Me,” featuring Donald’s Glover’s son, Legend. These two songs couldn’t be more different and thereby put Gambino’s full musical range on display. On “Yoshinoya,” Gambino returns to his rapping form, in what many are interpreting as a Drake diss. The confident and clever bars in this song are aligned with what initially drew me to his music. It’s ambiguous enough to not get lost in a one-note combative battle rap, but offers instead an elevated form of hip-hop braggadocio relying on wordplay, metaphors, and double entendres to set up and land an onslaught of punchlines. Inversely, “Can You Feel Me” leads with warmth and demonstrates the love felt between Gambino and his son as they duet back and forth over a bouncy beat that remixes the alphabet. In terms of the flow of a cohesive project, having such songs back to back would seem counterintuitive, but with Gambino, it just makes sense as he continues to explore multiplicity and the idea of a multifaceted identity through his music.
Dimitra: “Yoshinoya” in primis, as Ciaran has already mentioned. It is perhaps the track I have listened to the most so far, along with “Talk My Shit.” The one that has perhaps stayed in my heart the most though is “A Place Where Love Goes.” There could not have been a better conclusion to this record, it is just perfect. Emotional, powerful, triumphant and at times seemingly self-aggrandizing, the ideal testament to such a great artist. Magnificent.
Dom: “Steps Beach” is celestial, it’s evocative and soothing. Donny baby gets to serenade us in falsetto atop a landscape of slappy acoustic guitar riffs and dreamy harmonies. Aww, you had me at ‘hello’.
“Yoshinoya” is hard-hitting and relentless, doesn’t take any prisoners — the backdrop for a coming of age scene in the upcoming movie perhaps? Prime Lauryn Hill he ain’t, but Childish Gambino is a top-five creator in the game right now from where I’m standing.
Minna: I love “Talk My Shit!” The flow and the beat are just so addictive and fun and that Flo Mili features??? Oh, it’s just too perfect. It was a totally unexpected feature and hearing her voice on this track it feels like such a fresh sound for her while still maintaining her signature ‘pretty girl rap’ energy. Something that really stood out to me on this album was the features and the emphasis of uplifting other young female voices in the RnB and Rap sphere, while this project is saying goodbye to a chapter it also feels like it is nodding to the people Donald Glover wants us to be paying attention to next. “Yoshinoya” was also a stand out to me, the harder trap beat, gravely rap and looped and distorted vocals was so reminiscent of early Childish Gambino it’s been the track that’s been on repeat for me.
Do you have any favorite lyrics so far? Which lines stand out?
Ciaran: On the chorus of the final song of the album, “A Place Where Love Goes,” Gambino emphatically exclaims: “It’s all right now/We found a place/A place where love goes.” The album ends on these lines. In relation to the trajectory of his entire discography as Childish Gambino, this feels extremely poignant and telling. Much of Gambino’s early persona felt as though the embodiment of a certain youthful wistfulness that oscillated between rage and lamentation. On the outro of his debut album Camp, he ended with a story where he claimed the protagonist, himself, got on a school bus, got heartbroken and never got off. With these lyrics, Gambino ensures us that the same character from Camp did eventually get off the bus and that he’s in a good place, so we, as fans, should be happy for him.
Dimitra: My favourite lyric is pretty simple yet incredibly sweet, and it’s from “Real Love”: “It’s clear that you’re ever loving, it’s coming from the heart”. The entire lyrics from “Can You Feel Me”, though… They’re so poignant, I tore up a little bit when I heard them for the first time. It’s the pure, honest love between a father and his child, the pain of losing a loving one, “baring your soul completely naked” and then feeling the delicious freedom of being who you are with the people you love the most. “You came from above / My purpose is love”… It’s all right here, exactly here.
Dom: I like the retro cultural references of “H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥”, with the lyrics: “Shoot a m’f’r, I’m the new Spike Lee, everybody know me, I don’t need ID.” Tongue-in-cheek narcissism which would make Kanye West blush.
Minna: A lyric that really solidified to me how the Childish Gambino character has grown with Donald Glover was this one from “Yoshinoya”
I’m in the mirror, I see what I like
It is what it is, I’m right when I’m right
F* with my kids, you f* with your life
You f*in’ these hoes, I’m f*in’ my wife
It’s still cheeky and funny but it’s moved far from the Gambino that sang “I love p*sy, I love bitches, dude, I should be runnin’ PETA.” I love a bar that is funny and honest at the same time.
Glover has said he is retiring his stage name, making this Childish Gambino’s final album. What is this record’s impact on Childish Gambino’s legacy?
Ciaran: Lately, in mainstream media, it feels like the absence of a conclusive ending has become the norm. While that can be thought provoking, as a fan, nothing bothers me more. This record, however, gives the character of Childish Gambino a happy ending. Many of Childish Gambino’s projects have had a narrative arc to them. Camp found Gambino navigating young love, which concluded with a first person spoken story, Because the Internet had a widely circulated screenplay widely during the albums release, and STN MTN / Kaui followed the loose concept of Glover ascending to hip-hop royalty in Atlanta. Between written content, music videos, and album skits, all of these projects had a multimedia storytelling approach that merged Glover’s interests as an artist across mediums. Now, finally, with Bando Stone, a film is accompanying the album, firmly uniting the worlds of Childish Gambino the musician and Donald Glover the multi-hyphen creative powerhouse.
Dom: I suppose it was inevitable that the boy would evolve into a man. This feels like a coming of age for an artist who wasn’t long off the bosom when he first entered the scene (or at least his babyface looks would have many believe) but has shown a developing maturation over the course of 13 years and five studio albums.
The one regret that may linger is thrice narrowly missing out on the elusive number one spot in the US R&B/Hip-Hop charts with a trio of number twos leaving Gambino tantilisingly close to the promised land..
Dimitra: I think it’s a fitting conclusion to the career and character that Glover has built over the years. I honestly don’t know how much of an impact it can have compared to his other records, though – personally, I see Atavista as a much better closing record, not least because of the fact that it’s the conclusion of work that started years ago. That doesn’t make Bando Stone a less valid record, but I think it was others that had a significant impact on Gambino’s discography.
Minna: I think this is a beautiful goodbye to the Childish Gambino project and persona. This album has these songs that feel like vignettes of sounds and genres that were part of Childish Gambino soundscape and paid homage to each of those genres or sub-genres with all of the production and writing knowledge of someone who has been doing this project for over 10 years. I think that this is the final form of Childish Gambino and it feels like it’s been tied into this beautiful, chaotic, genre bending bow. I think the album has a little bit of everything and something for everyone to love. I think the Childish Gambino legacy was cemented long ago, Because The Internet, Kauai and Awaken, My Love! shook up the music sphere when they were released, quickly becoming staples among RnB fans. People already have the albums they think are best and I think nostalgia always helps in that. I don’t think Brando Stone… has had that same impact on people yet but Childish Gambino is an icon, Donald Glover is well respected and praised in every industry he’s explored, and this is the project he’s leaving in listeners hands and I knowing him it’s all intentional which makes me only more excited for the film.
Where do you feel Bando Stone and the New World sits in the pantheon of Childish Gambino’s discography?
Ciaran: I really liked this album and I think my appreciation for it will definitely grow over time as I continue to listen. It’s hard to compare it to Camp, Because the Internet, STN MTN / Kaui and “Awaken, My Love!” because all of those came at really formative times in my life. Also, the styles and genres are so different. If I had to rank projects though, I’d rank them Because The Internet, STN MTN / Kaui, “Awaken, My Love!”, Camp, Bando Stone and The New World, Atavista, and Sick Boi. It’s very likely Bando will reach higher; it will just take more listens.
Dom: It’s a decent album with a clutch of very good singles. While I wouldn’t place it on the same pedestal as “Awaken, My Love” or 3.15.20, I see this as a noble bronze medalist, like an Olympic sprinter having one last race and securing a medal without quite reliving his glory days, Donald nails the final act of this portion of his career to provide a satisfying curtain call.
Dimitra: It is a good album! Not the best one in Gambino’s discography I think, but a mature one that still encapsulates the artist’s journey well. A kaleidoscope of his souls, I would say. In a hypothetical ranking of his discography, maybe I would put it in fourth place (at first we’d find Atavista, at second Because The Internet, then Awaken, My Love!).
Minna: I agree with everyone, not his finest (I am a Camp and Because The Internet truther until I die) but this is definitely a more mature version of our favorite alter ego and I’m in love with the collaborations on this album.
Given that this may be the end of Childish Gambino, what do you make of his artistry, and his contribution to culture over the past 13 years?
Ciaran: On his 2011 track “Hold You Down” from the album Camp, there’s a lyric that always stuck with me: “I won’t stop until they say: ‘James Franco is the white Donald Glover.’” At the time of Camp’s release, Donald Glover felt like an underground genius that was grossly ignored and kind of a secret outside of certain circles. In this lyric, he pointed to wanting to be regarded as a renaissance man of the modern era and he’s flawlessly accomplished that. 13 years later, his cultural relevance is unmatched and the likes of James Franco can’t compare. For me, personally, he’s demonstrated the ability to age gracefully with one’s art and to mature while remaining interested in pushing boundaries.
Ankita: Gambino is the ultimate example of being a limitless artist. He’s someone that seems genuinely excited about every new avenue of expression he’s able to master—whether it’s a Grammy-nominated album, a performance, a viral music video like “This is America” that brought attention to gun violence and the loss of innocent Black lives in the U.S., a killer stand up comedy special or TV shows like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Community, and Atlanta. Every single one of these projects bears Glover’s signature style. A mantra I’ve heard in dance is that when you become a dancer that’s truly great, people should be able to recognize you just from your silhouette—that’s how distinctive your style and movement should look. The excitement and authentic love that Glover has for his craft shows up energetically across all of his work. To me, that’s the mark of a truly successful artist, and one whose expression will resonate and span across generations.
Dom: Childish Gambino is simply majestic, over the course of little more than a decade he has provided fans with a litany of euphemistic tracks, all with brutal authenticity and underlying perfectionism. Never predictable, he received his flowers as a global musician with “This is America”, a single hurtling towards a billion YouTube clicks and one which broke even the notoriously hip-hop hesitant UK scene, sneaking into the top-10 over here.
Gambino has never shied away from taking calculated risks and changing tack on the flip of a coin, so I’m excited to see what he pulls out of the hat next – it could frankly be anything from a year of silent Verpassana in the foothills of the Himalayas to being the new Batman. One senses his legacy has many more layers to be added.
Dimitra: I feel a bit like when George Miller (now commonly known as Joji) ended his youtuber career as well as the Filthy Frank/Pink Guy alias story (and music career). Both Frank and Gambino contributed to Internet culture in very different but pivotal ways, in a way. However, I can’t wait to see what else Glover is up to; he is a truly multifaceted artist who still has so, so much to offer.
Minna: There will never be another Childish Gambino and how lucky are we to have gotten to experience this decade long project in real time. I think all of my fellow roundtable writers have expressed it perfectly: Childish Gambino is a one of a kind phenomenon that was able to balance authentic storytelling whilst tying in elements of comedy and real world struggle whilst writing, producing and performing dynamic and multilayered tracks that became staples within the genre. We’ve gotten stellar visuals, heavy hitting bars and melodies that can be played at any function and everyone would know them. Childish Gambino is a cultural phenomenon and these songs will continue to resonate and be cited as inspiration for years to come.
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Bando Stone and The New World
an album by Childish Gambino
