Donald Glover had an impressive run using the name Childish Gambino. Transitioning from goofy, complicated backpack rap to psychedelic R&B auteur, oddball yet convincing trap-rapper to Grammy-winning pop star — it’s been quite a journey. The soundtrack to his film **Bando Stone & the New World is a trip through nearly all the phases of his career, which is fitting because this is the last Gambino record.
Glover enlists many guests — Jorja Smith, Yeat, Amaarae, Flo Milli, Fousheé, Chlöe, and Khruangbin — to create a modern pop whirlwind of an album that dips into trap, smooth R&B, jangling indie pop, hyperpop-inflected hip-hop, overstuffed mainstream pop, and rock balladry, while staying true to the sound and persona he’s so adeptly crafted over the years. The lyrics find him equal parts feisty and family-friendly, spitting out witty boasts one moment and dueting sweetly with his son Legend the next. Their track “Can You Feel Me” is the emotional centerpiece of the record, with the Glovers delivering a very human, heartwarming performance. It’s hard to tell how much of the record is based on the movie, but songs like “Can You Feel Me” and others seem pulled straight from Glover’s life. “Lithonia,” a thumping hard rock ballad with walls of guitars and Elton John-worthy piano breakdowns, is another one. If Glover is faking the emotion here, he might need to clear space on his bookshelf for an Oscar. The other ballads, like the stadium-sized “Cruisin’,” where he pushes his ever-improving vocals to their very limit, and the lilting ’70s folk-soul-inspired “Steps Beach,” come across as glossy, super-produced modern pop, but with the kind of heart and feeling often missing from his contemporaries’ music. It’s the same when he takes on trap tropes and makes them his own, investing tracks like “Talk My Shit” with exciting production trickery and daring lyrical twists, or when he delivers top-notch examples of up-to-date R&B at its smoothest and best — like the Jorja Smith and Amaarae-featuring “In the Night” or the languid and lovely “No Excuses.” Not content to simply hone and perfect styles he’s already explored, Glover steps outside the lines to try jangling, harmony-filled indie pop (“Real Love”), jarring electro-punk (“Got to Be”), very fun pop-punk (“Running Around,” featuring excellent work by Fousheé), and a laid-back country-rock tune (“Dadvocate”) that’s surprisingly brotastic. He nails the first three genre experiments and does as well as anyone could with the last. Much better is the song he does with Khruangbin, “Happy Survival,” which grafts his yearning background vocals on top of one of their trademark drifting grooves; unlike the country-rock diversion, this is something that could be intriguing to hear Glover pursue further in his next incarnation. Childish Gambino was and will remain one of the music industry’s success stories, and watching Glover grow and evolve has been a delight. **Bando Stone & the New World** may not be his best album — it was always going to be difficult to surpass “Awaken, My Love!” — but it serves as a fitting summation of all the good-to-great music released under the Gambino banner and might even offer some clues as to where he’s headed next.
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