Music Jar – week 52

In this, the final week of the year, I have taken the final piece of paper from the pickle jar and have been joyfully listening to Childish Gambino, the performing name of Lando Calrissian Donald Glover.

What I Knew Before
It’s impossible not to know of Donald Glover, he’s one of those incredible talents who transcends all mediums and offers something up across the board. It doesn’t matter if you know him from Community, Solo: A Star Wars Story or the video for This Is America, you most certainly know him. What I certainly hadn’t done is dug into the archives and listened to his musical output as Childish Gambino.
It says a lot about an artist that when I announce who I am listening to for the week, there will be an outpouring of love for them. It happened with My Chemical Romance, it happened with Prince and it definitely happened with Childish Gambino, notably by Jamie who put together this fun playlist for me.

What I Know Now
Gambino has bars! I had listened to Redbone and perhaps the rest of Awaken after my good friend Benjy insisted on playing it when we were hanging out. He said he was obsessed and I took to it too, although clearly not enough to try out the rest of his discography.
After independently releasing albums and mixtapes, Glover signed to Glassnote Records in 2011 and subsequently released four albums including the drop of 3.15.20 this year, marking a rare highlight in a period of gloom. It’s also worth noting that he appeared on the Time 1o0 list of the world’s most influential people. If you’re looking to dispute that then it brings me great pleasure to tell you that you are wrong.
It doesn’t matter if it’s his work on Atlanta, in Spider-Man: Homecoming or giving a poignant speech at one of his many appointments, he’s a brilliant, talented and profound influence on the world.

Favourite song(s):
You See Me, Redbone, This Is America, 3005

Favourite album:
Kauai – and I’ll tell you for why. On Christmas morning, I grabbed my longboard and went for a skate with this album playing. Everything Childish Gambino has done is great but there’s something about the experience of listening to this album while I was out and riding and free that felt fantastic.

Week 52 represents the end of the year, as usual. Even 2020 had to finish eventually. I don’t know what comes next but I promise you it won’t be boring.
Spotify my favourite songs from this project.
It’s been interesting to delve into these different artists. I’ve learnt a lot about music that I should have known and discovered some bands that I will listen to henceforth.