Song Review-California by Childish Gambino produced by Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson

by Dan-O

Don’t ever take “talented” as a compliment. It is not specific enough to call what you do valuable. Donald Glover spent his whole career fighting this designation. He could have kept putting out projects like Camp full of punch lines and geek culture references, and that album is good enough to get him called talented. It is good enough for people to buy and follow his career.

Talent isn’t craftsmanship, it isn’t approach. His new album Awaken My Love is head and shoulders above anything he’s done before musically (Troy Barnes 4 life). Instead of spitting feverishly with as many inside jokes as can fit he lets the music lead him and he does what the song needs. It is my 7^th favorite album of the year (I don’t post lists on this site so you don’t get to know the rest!) because it has a real groove that guides it and doesn’t try to jam too much into the space it provides.

While Stand Tall is the height of its beauty California is such a necessary release (like Forrest Gump on Channel Orange for Frank Ocean). For those fearing that he would allow this album to slide into depression like Because The Internet; California is fearless lovable while telling a tale of absolute failure. Songs like this show that he is loose enough to play and past the initial stage of calibrating his talent level. Gambino has control and isn’t creating music to prove to you he can, instead he is giving you his vision and this time it is great.