Childish Gambino Teases New Album, But It's Not What You Expect

Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, just teased a new album on his Instagram accounts... well, a "new" album. Moreover, he posted a new tracklist of 11 songs and 55 minutes on his IG Story: an album titled ATAVISTA. Not only that, but the multi-hyphenate also updated his IG profile pics for @donaldglover and @childishgambino, the latter of which he tagged in the aforementioned Story post from the former). However, a closer look at the tracklist reveals titles like "Algorhythm," "Time," "Little Foot Big Foot," and "Why Go To The Party," titles and refrains which Gambino fans should be familiar with.

Furthermore, that's because this seems to be an updated, or in other words properly titled and "artworked," version of Childish Gambino's 2020 album 3.15.20, which released exactly four years ago today (Friday, March 15) on his website before being removed after 12 hours and appearing on streaming services a week later. The original version of the project came out with a white square as its cover art and with most of the track titles, excluding "Time" and "Algorhythm," corresponding to the minute and second on which they started on a full album playback. But there is one track that seems to not be on this new version. That would be "32.22," the most industrial and aggressive cut on the LP.

Childish Gambino's Cryptic New Instagram Teases

Still, some tracks like "Human Sacrifice" have actually surfaced online, whether through teases or otherwise, as different or more complete versions of their equivalents on 3.15.20. The former stand-up comedian who might make a comeback in that regard soon could just be trolling here. Or Childish Gambino could be legitimately pointing to a re-released or revamped version of his 2020 record in some way, or an entirely new tracklisting with some overlap from his last album. That last option doesn't seem likely, but considering that Donald Glover's last full-length effort came out right when the world entered a years-long pandemic, we wouldn't be mad at listening to it with a different perspective.

With all this in mind, what do you think is really going on with ATAVISTA... whatever that is? Is the 2093 collaborator trying to fool fans with some misdirection here or is it really just 3.15.20 again? Is that what he wants us to believe? Either way, drop your thoughts down in the comments below before we all get too deep in our conspiracy bag. For more news and the latest updates on Childish Gambino, Donald Glover, whatever you want to call him, check back in with HNHH.