Donald Glover is retiring his Childish Gambino alter-ego because it is no longer “fulfilling”.
The 40-year-old actor is to drop ‘Bando Stone and The New World’, the sixth album under his Childish Gambino moniker, on Friday (19.07.24), but the rapper doesn’t feel the need to “build in this way” anymore.
He told the New York Times newspaper: “It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done.’
“It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.”
The ‘Lion King’ actor also admitted he doesn’t long for chart success with his music.
He added: “Success to me is, honestly, being able to put out a wide-scale album that I would listen to.
“For this album, I really wanted to be able to play big rooms and have big, anthemic songs that fill those rooms, so that people feel a sense of togetherness.”
In April, Glover confirmed he was to retire Gambino after ‘Bando Stone and The New World’.
It is his sixth album under the moniker, including 2024 release ‘Atavista’, which was a reissue and “finished version” of his fourth studio album ‘3.15.20’.
During an appearance on his Gilga Radio project – live streamed on Instagram – he explained: “The project I put out, ‘3.15.20’ that no one’s ever heard of, people didn’t even know I put it out, it was originally titled ‘Atavista,’ it was supposed to be ‘Atavista’.
“But we put it out quickly, I didn’t master or mix it, I just kind of put it out. I was going through a lot … thought everybody was going to die because it was the pandemic. We put it out, we finished it, it’s ‘Atavista,’ we’re putting that out. But then after that, there’s a Childish Gambino album, the final Childish Gambino album.”