Tomorrow (July 19), Donald Glover is releasing Bando Stone And The New World, which is being billed as the final album by his long-running musical identity, Childish Gambino. We’ve known this for months, but it still begs the question:
Why Is Donald Glover Retiring The Childish Gambino Name?
In a new New York Times interview (as NME notes), Glover spoke about realizing his days as Gambino were coming to an end while he was recording, saying, “It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.”
Glover also cited the “continued decline of album consumption” and “disruptions in the touring business” as other reasons for leaving the Gambino name behind. He also said, “Success to me is, honestly, being able to put out a wide-scale album that I would listen to. For this album, I really wanted to be able to play big rooms and have big, anthemic songs that fill those rooms, so that people feel a sense of togetherness.”
While this is the final Gambino album, it’s not the final Gambino endeavor: A couple months ago, Glover announced a massive Gambino world tour that runs from August 2024 to February 2025.