Childish Gambino, '3.15.20'
Gambino a.k.a. Donald Glover is often enigmatic, but he really outdid himself with the baffling rollout for this, his fourth full-length album: Expected by fans for nearly two years, it was briefly posted online on 3.15.20, days after coronavirus took in the U.S., with no advance notice, removed after 12 hours, and then released officially, again with no notice, a week later. It has no title but its initial release date; most of the songs have numbers for titles; the cover is a blank white square — and yet it’s one of the most dynamic albums of the year, showing Glover’s immense maturation as a singer and songwriter. While the influences loom large — “Sign O’ the Times”-era Prince, Kanye, some Bill Withers and even a little Beach Boys — the songs range from soulful ballads (the Princely “Sweet Thing,” the Ariana Grande-featuring “Time”) to confrontational rock, Caribbean rhythms (“Feels Like Summer”) and even an irresistible song called “Big Foot, Little Foot” that could be from a children’s album. Why he decided to give his long-awaited masterwork a stealthy anti-drop is anyone’s guess, but its outward anonymity can’t conceal its greatness. —Jem Aswad