Childish Gambino to be retired after final album this year

Donald Glover had, by mid-2017, already announced that he was ready to retire his musicaliasChildish Gambino, explaining that he didn’t think his music career is “necessary” anymore.

Given he’s been juggling a number of film projects of late, many were left unsure ofwhen the final Gambino record would appear.

It’s later this year, it seems. Through his agency/label Wolf + Rothstein, he has signed with RCA Records, indicating he wants to make something of a splash.

“It was a necessary change of pace,” Glover said, indicating his split from Glassnote Records, with whom he signed in 2011.

He released three full-length albums and two mixtapes through them.

He had a certain amount of success with Glassnote but in 2014 he tweeted in annoyance that the video for his ‘Sweatpants’ video had been “mishandled” and that the label had lied to him about what it was going to do with the video.

“So I’m done. Someone buy me out of this contract,” he declared at the time.

Adding to Glover’s desire to move from music was that his last album Awaken, My Love failed to live up to the consistent highs of Because The Internet.

Last year he explained to the Huffington Post why his music career was not “necessary” any more – despite ‘Redbone’ peaking at #17 in America that week.

“There’s nothing worst than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’” he said.

“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.

“Like I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things and I always had a reason to be punk.

“Being punk just always felt really good to me and we always looked at Atlanta as a punk show and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore.

“As much as ‘Redbone’ is a punk song because it’s a gospel song that’s on the radio, I’m like there’s only so far you can go before you just are the radio.”

This weekend, Childish Gambino goes into the Grammys with five nominations.

Glover’s other projects including a starring role in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story as a younger and more “complicated” Lando Calrissian.

Glover will also take the lead in Jon Favreau’s live-action The Lion King adaptation, playing Simba.

There’s also season two of Atlanta, FXX’s new animated series for Marvel’s Deadpool and Spider-Man: Homecoming.