Childish Gambino Announces UK Tour

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The New World Tour

Whether on stage or on screen, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino continues to push the boundaries of everything he touches.

Born in California before moving to Georgia, Glover was famously voted Most Likely To Write For The Simpsons in his high school’s yearbook, despite his mother not letting him watch the show. After studying dramatic writing at university, Glover finally did submit a script for The Simpsons which, alongside his sketch group Derrick Comedy, caught the attention of 30 Rock creators Tina Fey and Dave Milner in 2006. Glover joined the show’s writing team for four years, and eventually found his way in front of the camera when he joined the cast of the NBC sitcom Community.

By the time the show premiered, Glover had already released a couple of low-key mixtapes like Sick Boy (2008) under the moniker Childish Gambino – a randomised suggestion from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator. But he began to turn more attention to his musical side, and in 2011 embarked on the IAMDONALD tour before releasing his debut album Camp. Released on Glassnote Records, Camp was an early indicator of Glover’s eclectic tastes and dynamic rap talents, from the incendiary debut single ‘Bonfire’ to the tug on the melodic heartstrings on fan favourite ‘Heartbeat’. 

Having left the Community cast in 2013, Glover moved on swiftly with plenty of new projects, such as signing a deal with FX for his new show Atlanta, a cameo on Lena Dunham’s Girls, and setting to his second Childish Gambino album. Because The Internet was released in December of that year and, coded in internet tropes and memes, was a sign of the increasingly online times. With a larger production and collabs from Chance The Rapper and Azealia Banks, the album debuted at No.7 on the Billboard 200 and included the mega-hits ‘3005’ and ‘The Worst Guys’. Childish Gambino took Because The Internet on the road in 2014 with The Deep Web tour and a year later he earned his first Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance for ‘3005’. 

Many in Glover’s position may have chosen to commit to a singular path, acting or rapping, but the artist continued to go from strength-to-strength in both fields. Over the next few years he appeared in films such as The Martian, Magic Mike XXL and Solo: A Star Wars Story, while Atlanta premiered in 2016 and would become a critically lauded smash and make him, among other accolades, the first black person to win an Emmy for the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series category. Meanwhile, later in 2016 Glover performed three shows in Joshua Tree, California, where he debuted new songs he’d been working on. These would appear on “Awaken, My Love!”, released in December, which revealed a new direction for Childish Gambino as he stepped away from the nerdy aesthetic and leant into a sexy, soulful sound inspired by psychedelic funk. Tracks like ‘Redbone’ and ‘Me and Your Mama’ displayed Glover’s voice like never before, from the smooth crooning of the former to the raspy exhalations of the latter. 

‘Redbone’ won Glover his first Grammy in 2018 for Best Traditional R&B Performance, but it was another song released that year that would be on everyone’s lips. Childish Gambino debuted ‘This Is America’ on Saturday Night Live in May 2018, but this was only half of the story. The song was accompanied by a graphic and provocative music video directed by his longtime collaborator Hiro Murai, which took on a life of itself as viewers spent hours dissecting its many layers. Rolling Stone magazine called it a “surreal, visceral statement about gun violence in America”, though it also tackled issues such as institutional racism. ‘This Is America’ was one of the biggest viral moments of 2018 and earnt Glover Grammy Awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and of course Best Music Video. 

If there was any doubt of Glover’s powerful popularity, in 2019 Childish Gambino headlined Coachella festival as well as voicing the role of Simba in Disney’s The Lion King remake. In March 2020, as the world began hunkering down indoors, Glover premiered a new album 3.15.20. While the world was still enjoying Glover in the Amazon series Mr & Mrs Smith, in May 2024 Glover announced on his GILGA radio platform that 3.15.20 would be released as a finished version called Atavista. Childish Gambino then announced UK dates for November and December 2024 as part of a European tour.