Feels Like Summer
Donald Glover has been gracing us with his many talents over the years. You may remember his video shorts with Derrick Comedy, but he has grown so much since then. He has acted in several comedy roles such as Troy in "Community", Earn in "Atlanta", Lando Calrissian in "Solo: A Star Wars Story", and he has upcoming role as the voice of Simba in the "Lion King", which is going to be released in July 2019.
With the use of Childish Gambino as his rap alias, he has been able to become one of the most well rounded entertainers of this era. He has made countless music videos that are both entertaining to watch and eye opening. He has proven himself savvy in multiple genres, not just rap and hip hop, but soul and R&B as well. In 2016 he won a grammy for best traditional R&B performance for “Redbone” from his Awaken, My Love! 2016 album. He has fun while doing it too. He is not afraid to be vulnerable. His 3005 album indicated that he was experiencing a lot of pain and sadness. Most artists only portray their happy or successful side, but as a proper artist, Glover reveals the full range of emotions. This is one of the reasons why he is so popular.
After he received a massive support for his single “This Is America,” he went back into the studio and whipped out a couple new jams for the summer. He gave us a taste with the two singles from his Summer Pack titled, “Summertime Magic” and “Feels Like Summer”. “Summertime Magic” has an interesting summer romance kind of feel. The type of feeling you get when you are in love with someone, the weather is warm, and you don’t have a care in the world. That early relationship ‘lovey dovey’ feeling when you can’t help but smile and you can communicate with each other without talking. Music has a way of allowing us to connect with it in different ways.
“Feels Like Summer” takes you on a nostalgia trip of your neighborhood or town while growing up and having a lot of free time because school is out and you are trying to find things to do without getting into too much trouble.
Both songs are noteworthy and Glover just released a music video on September 1st to accompany “Feels Like Summer,” which encompasses all the feels from growing up during summer. In the video, he goes for a walk in the neighborhood. The backdrop features a suburban neighborhood with kids running around, teenagers hanging about, people washing their cars, bbq grills cooking away, a game of tug of war happening, and many more situations.
I had to do a double take because I completely missed it first minute through, but a lot of the characters in the music video are celebrities. Go check it out once more and see how many you can spot. For those of you who didn’t spot it until later like I did, you can’t miss the undertones from the middle of the video. To summarize the many issues of America, Donald artfully places an ice cream cup with inspiration from ‘Baskin Robbins’ with vanilla and chocolate scoops melting into one another. I love the incorporation of 31 flavors. It touches on the fact that there are so many different cultures, languages, and backgrounds that make up what it means to be American. It makes us think about summer being used as a metaphor to talk about the political climate. Tensions are becoming more heated in regard to race and social issues. Maybe the way to cool it down is as simple as two ice cream flavors to melt together; to unify and break down barriers. We need to fix our problems together so we can eventually form a cohesive, just, and equal society.
While these singles were the only two that he has released since his major album “Awaken, My Love!”, we can expect him to dish out some more before the end of the year. Summertime Magic has a 1990s’ and modern feel. He incorporates elements that many of us may remember from growing up around the summertime. Thank you so much for your continued art, commentary, and visualization to describe the world we live in Donald. I can’t wait for more of your content. Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone!
