Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love! (December 2, 2016) Album • Page 12

Yea, this is pretty silly. But I'm glad to hear him branching in a totally different direction. His rapping always felt like it bit too hard from Kanye-Drake-Kendrick. Even if he's doing a lot of the P-Funk/War sound, it's showing growth.

Either way, Glover's strength is on the screen with screenwriting and acting.

 

I love Questlove, regardless of how I feel about this album, I love his enthusiasm and how he writes his posts, he's a great Instagram follow if you're looking for one

 

Only three songs in but it's a pretty fun listen so far. 'Boogieman' would be better with someone else singing it but I still prefer it to any of his rapping at all.

 

*reaches 'California'*

Aw fuck x2

Any other vocal turn and it might be a fun little track.

 

He's a great writer in general. His book is awesome.

 

I'm listening to California first so it can only be uphill from here right? I remember listening to the live bootleg of it from Pharos and thinking "what the fuck" but the studio version is even worse haha

 

I'm digging this. He does some really weird vocal flourishes that kind of hurt it, but whatever.

 

This is great! I don't get the negative reaction from most of you guys. Just because it's not rap?

 

Think the album is fine, to each their own though.

 

It would be so much better if he just sang in his actual voice instead of trying to imitate all the funk singers of the 70's. Think that's the biggest misstep

 

Honestly can't believe California is a real song.

 

California is absolutely terrible. I support him wanting to change his sound but I'm not into the album at all. Redbone is the only one I like

 

I'm not on the outright hate bandwagon. I think him making this kind of album in 2016 is at the very least interesting, and I think there are bits of solid melodies throughout some of the songs. I think that it's overly ambitious and doesn't hit the mark on a lot of levels, but it's different and dense enough for me to throw on more than once. I'm not too big on the genre he's pulling from in general, but I think he does an okay job of reaching an aesthetic that is reminiscent of what he's going for, at least on some songs. On others he sounds like a dracula.

I guess it's better than being super boring?

Definitely gonna be the "At least it's not as bad as...." album for the site, tho.

 

I don't hate this. I do think the direction he went in is interesting and exciting, and I think about half of the tracks range somewhere from fine to great. But the other half is simply not executed well enough for this to be the game-changer I've seen some people already label it.

 

I'm three songs deep. It's....interesting, to say the least

 

I like it. It's alright... there's just no real... highs.

 

Zombies kinda reminds me of Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

 

I think I'd like California if he was doing literally anything else with his voice

Overall I actually like this quite a bit, despite a few missteps

 

Really enjoying this album. I think the only missteps are Have Some Love and California.

Loving Terrified and Baby Boy.

 

Questlove is right on in this aspect. If you would have told me Childish Gambino would have released a P-Funk album in 2016, I wouldn't have believed you. I'm excited to go back to some of those old Funkadelic/Parliament records and compare them to this.

 

"California" might be my favorite song on the album actually.

 

I'm only one listen in and I can't say I hate the album my any means. I'm different in the sense I like the front half a bit better with the funk being a pretty neat addition to. I really enjoyed the Me and Your Mama, Boogieman, Zombies, Riot, Terrified, and Stand Tall. Redbone did nothing for me. And while I do like this, I really do wish he had gone back to his rapping stuff from Because The Internet or Camp, but that's coming from someone who got into him by his rapping. I feel like so many Gambino fans are gonna be disappointed in this and this album won't hit the right audience. If this album would somehow flop, at least he has a lot going on in film for him.

 

His choice in vocal effects and the way he sings in general in a lot of this album was weird for me. I love his regular singing voice. This whole album just turned out to be something I wasn't expecting whatsoever. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet.

 

"Zombies" is a perfect example of where the vocals just don't work for me, and in general a lot of this just feels derivative rather than inventive ("Boogieman")