Here’s everything we know about Childish Gambino’s tipped return to music
Childish Gambino fans can now let out a huge sigh of relief as the multi-hyphenate has revealed he’s been working on new music – and won’t be retiring his stage name.
“I’m making music right now, I love it,” the star – whose real name is Donald Glover – told E!’s Laverne Cox when asked at Tuesday’s Golden Globes if he had, in fact, “retired” Gambino. “I’m actually working, I’m in the studio. I’ve been bringing people in, like secret people, working on little things. But I just been, you know, making it for fun right now. But soon something will happen, I promise. Something will happen.”
Cox then clarified if the music would be released under the Childish Gambino moniker, noting that she had heard the name had been retired. “No, no, no, that was out in the ethos,” Glover said. “You don’t have to worry about that. He’ll be back.”
Glover told fans during a performance at New York’s Governors Ball festival in 2017: “I’ll see you for the last Gambino album.” In an interview with The Huffington Post shortly afterwards, he explained his decision, saying: “There’s nothing worse than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’ You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”
At the 2018 Grammys, he doubled down on the announcement, telling reporters backstage: “I stand by that. I’m really appreciative of this [Grammy]. I’m making another project right now. But I like endings, I think they’re important to progress.”
However, in 2019, he backtracked on the decision slightly. “I think I’m still going to do shows. I’m not quite sure,” he said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “I really love making music.”
In March 2022, he visited the TV show again with another update on new music. “I’m making a lot of music,” he said. “I really love doing it; I’ve made a bunch of it. It’s just really about how to experience it at this point.”
Glover hasn’t dropped a studio album as Gambino since 3.15.20, which arrived in 2020 – but hopefully, after his latest comments, we’ll be hearing new music from the star sooner rather than later.
