"Awaken, My Love!"



"Awaken, My Love!" is the third studio album by American rapper and recording artist Childish Gambino. It was released on December 2, 2016, by Glassnote Records. Consisting of tracks being sung rather than rapped, its fusion of psychedelic soul, funk and R&B influences was considered a bold departure from the predominately hip hop style of his prior work. The album was produced by Glover and his longtime collaborator, Ludwig Göransson.

"Awaken, My Love!" received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200. It also debuted at number two on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was supported by two singles, "Me and Your Mama" and "Redbone".

Background
On June 17, 2016, after a hiatus from social media, Glover tweeted "pharos.earth", a link to download his new app. The app itself placed the user in outer space looking at a small blue planet while a clock counted down to zero. The app then had the user crash down into space, placing them on a map that was located on Joshua Tree, California. The app then showed the dates of his upcoming performances at Joshua Tree Hill, where the user could also purchase tickets. The concert festival was to debut the album and give the audience the "full-album experience". From September 3 to 5, nearly three months before the release of his album, Glover held three concert performances at Joshua Tree Hill to debut the album. Glover wore glow-in-the-dark paint on his braids and a pink and yellow skirt, with his bandmates wearing similar attire. He performed eleven songs during the concert with minimal rapping, mainly featuring a funk / jazz vibe.

Upon its release, Glover updated his Pharos app so users could watch the performance of his first lead single, "Me and Your Mama" at Joshua Tree through a virtual reality lens on the phone.

Singles
"Me and Your Mama" was released as the album's lead single on Beats 1 radio and the iTunes Store on November 10, 2016, while "Redbone" was released a week later, premiering on Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1.

Critical reception
"Awaken, My Love!" received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album has received an average score of 77, based on 25 reviews. Mosi Reeves of Rolling Stone wrote that ""Awaken, My Love!" is an enthralling trip into the land of funk," while Dan Bogosian from The A.V. Club wrote "Is Childish Gambino suddenly the new Prince, a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist always ready to keep the world an arm’s length away from knowing what he's thinking? Is he D'Angelo, a soul god fighting against his first image with all-time great music? No. He is Donald Glover, a man who can perform and write comedy, act in drama, and drop a truly wonderful album on short notice with all the influences and instructions spelled out." Perry Kostidakis of the FSView & Florida Flambeau wrote that "with each successive album, Childish Gambino has exhibited phenomenal growth, but no more than on his latest release. Unflinchingly ambitious and boldly different, "Awaken, My Love" calls back the sounds and themes of the 1970s funkadelic movement to provide a wholly original, emotional and immersive musical experience," with The Guardians Gwilym Mumford adding "only the limitations of his voice occasionally let him down – he doesn't quite have the range to nail Awakens more ostentatious vocal lines. Still, it's a minor gripe when there's so much here to enjoy."

El Hunt of DIY said, "Colourful, brilliantly messy, and a fully committed hodge-podge of psych and spacecake croons, "Awaken, My Love!" is unlikely to shed further light on exactly what Childish Gambino is at heart, but by now, Glover's erratic approach is surely part of his central appeal." Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "It's at once a homage and a parody, equally aware of that era's excesses and its glories, of the way that the most memorable 1970s R&B merged sensuality, activism, humor, toughness, outlandishness, futurism, soul roots, wild eccentricity and utopian community spirit. That's an extremely high bar, but at its best, "Awaken, My Love!" recalls many of those virtues." Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound said, "Some of the same issues that dogged Childish Gambino's previous attempts at this sort of powerful expression linger here, but Glover's anguished wail strikes a far more resonant chord than his impish punchlines." A. Harmony of Exclaim! said, "Despite this galling blunder ["California", an infuriating interruption to an otherwise cohesive project], Gambino knocks Awaken out of the park." Tim Sendra of AllMusic said, ""Awaken, My Love!" is a stone-cold blast from beginning to end."

Matthew Strauss of Pitchfork said, "There are times, however, when that nodding feels more like mimicry than anything else. Maybe he'll figure out how to smuggle Donald Glover's heart into Childish Gambino's brain eventually, but if he hasn't figured out what he wants out of Childish Gambino yet, it's increasingly rewarding watching him try." Scott Glaysher of XXL said, "Childish Gambino gets definite props for pushing the envelope and refusing to operate within any genre confinements on this refreshing 49-minute trip through the funkadelic 1970s. While these blurred lines make this album a little hard to follow, "Awaken, My Love!" proves his versatility as a rapper turning over a new leaf." Kitty Empire of The Observer said, "Throughout, Glover's genre fluency is unimpeachable; the only minor drawback is the overmannered air of some of these period pieces, where there could be more straight-up abandon, as on the persuasive "Me and Your Mama"." Brian Josephs of Spin said, "That combination of bottled passion and efficiency spreads itself evenly through the 11-track set." Jonathan Wroble of Slant Magazine said, "A maddening ride with an authenticity problem, "Awaken, My Love!" finds Glover confusing his idols for muses."

Variance Magazine placed "Awaken My Love!" at number 15 on their "50 Best Albums of 2016" year-end list.

Commercial performance
"Awaken, My Love!" debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 with 101,000 album-equivalent units, marking the third highest debut of the week. It was the fourth best-selling album of the week, selling 72,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album was also streamed 41.5 million times in the first week. It is Glover's highest-charting album. As of December 28, 2016, the album has sold 151,000 total album equivalents, with 100,000 in physical album sales.

Track listing
Notes
 * $undefined$ signifies an additional producer

Personnel

 * Donald Glover – vocals (all tracks except 10), drums (track 6), glockenspiel (tracks 6, 8, 10), percussion (tracks 1–4, 7, 8), bottles (track 7)
 * Ludwig Göransson – bass guitar (tracks 1–3, 6, 7, 9–11), guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6–8, 11), rhodes (tracks 3, 6, 11), wurlitzer (tracks 6, 7, 9) synths (tracks 1, 2, 6), mellotron (track 3), harpsichord and synth bass (track 4), cello banjo (track 6), organ, bottles and percussion (track 7), drum programming (tracks 3, 8), synth programming and background vocals (track 8)
 * Ray Suen – guitar (tracks 1, 4, 7, 8, 9), piano and synth fx (track 4)
 * Lynette Williams – organ (tracks 1, 2, 9), clavinet (track 9)
 * Zac Rae – synths (tracks 1, 5, 8), organ (tracks 1, 8)
 * Chris Hartz – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 9), bass guitar and rhodes (track 4), percussion (track 7)
 * Per Gunnar Juliusson – piano and rhodes (track 1)
 * Sam Sugarman – guitar (track 2)
 * Gary Clark Jr. – guitar (track 10)
 * Thomas Drayton – bass guitar (tracks 1, 8)
 * Brent Jones and the Best Life Singers – choir (tracks 1, 2, 4, 10, 11)