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Like a comic book superhero resurrected from the dead, Childish Gambino has made a shocking return. In the last 24 hours, Donald Glover released a new record under his musical persona, and he’s also just announced a massive tour behind it. He’ll be at the Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday, September 5.
If you’re confused, it might be because you’ve heard Gambino had retired from music. While it is true that Glover had previously announced he would no longer make music as Childish Gambino – a name he had sourced from a rap-name generator – apparently, that’s not the case.
Last night, he dropped a new album, Atavista. Initially released in an unfinished state as 3.15.20, the record was uploaded by the artist to the website donaldgloverpresents.com before being taken down. Then the pandemic happened. One might assume Glover decided to take his sweet time touching up the record, which in its finished form features 21 Savage, Ariana Grande, Summer Walker, and Young Nudy, among others. In that time, he’s also been quite busy with acting work, making two final seasons of his hit FX show Atlanta and starring in Amazon’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith remake series with Maya Erskine.
Glover initially rose to fame in the early 2010s as a comic actor, making Mystery Team with his sketch comedy troupe Derrick Comedy and starring as reformed jock Troy on Dan Harmon’s cult hit NBC series Community. It was on the Community set where he met close collaborator Ludwig Göransson, now best known as an Oscar-winning composer for Black Panther and Oppenheimer, and the two began making music for Glover’s Childish Gambino project. Camp, their first record, famously earned a nasty 1.6 review from Pitchfork, but the record earned fans nonetheless, and the next Gambino album, 2013’s high-concept Because the Internet, was even more successful, with “3005” charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following the acclaimed first season of Atlanta in 2016, Glover switched things up significantly. His album from that year, “Awaken, My Love!” jettisons rap entirely in favor of glossy, ecstatic soul. It made huge waves in the music industry, with “Redbone” reaching number 12 on the Hot 100 and earning three Grammy nominations. Two years later, in 2018, he dropped another bomb: “This Is America.” The shocking single and video, directed by Atlanta showrunner Hiro Murai, in which a shirtless Glover switches between gleefully dancing to African guitar folk and slaughtering children and seniors with a variety of guns against dark trap music, was instantly controversial, widely discussed, and dissected for its incisive view of gun violence and police brutality against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement. The song debuted at number one on the Hot 100 and eventually swept the Grammys, winning Best Music Video and Record and Song of the Year. He also continued to work in Hollywood, starring in films such as The Martian, Magic Mike XXL, and the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. He starred as the voice of Simba in Disney’s live-action Lion King reboot and as Lando Calrissian in the Han Solo-centered Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Tickets for Gambino’s New World Tour go on sale Friday, May 17, at 10 a.m. Fans can sign up for the presale via thenewworldtour.com. Willow Smith (AKA Willow) will open. See all the tour dates below.
August 11 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center
August 12 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
August 14 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
August 15 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center
August 17 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
August 18 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
August 20 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
August 21 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
August 23 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
August 24 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Arena
August 26 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
August 27 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
August 29 – Washington, D.C. – Capital One Arena
August 30 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
September – 1 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
September 2 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
September 4 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
September 5 – Sunrise, FL – Amerant Bank Arena
September 7 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
September 8 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
September 10 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
September 11 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
September 13 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
September 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – Delta Center
September 16 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
September 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
September 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
September 21 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
September 23 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
September 24 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
September 25 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
September 27 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
September 29 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
October 2 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
October 3 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Childish Gambino. With Willow. 8 p.m. Thursday, September 5, at Amerant Bank Arena, 1 Panther Pkwy, Sunrise; 954-835-7000; amerantbankarena.com. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 17, at 10 a.m. via seatgeek.com.
