Childish Gambino revealed the reason Awaken, My Love! was created, and it’s extremely petty.
In a snippet of the episode of “The Shop,” which was released on March 3, 2022, Gambino explains what prompted him to make the album. He threw out a question to the group first.
"Not only will I make a hit, I won't make a video for it." 👀@donaldglover details how his 2016 album "Awaken, My Love" was born out of pure pettiness on #TheShop. Season 5 premieres tomorrow on our YouTube!
Presented by @greygoose. pic.twitter.com/3ass2dwNmK
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) March 3, 2022
“Did you ever tap into something that you feel is kind of bad to — in you to win? Cause like, I struggle with that. Like, I am naturally petty,” Gambino said. “Like, extremely petty.”
“Awaken, My Love! was literally because somebody was like, ‘Oh, he can’t make a hit.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, not only will I make a hit, I won’t make a video for it.’”
Whoever told Gambino that he couldn’t make a hit paid for it, while fans got one of his best albums out of that motivation. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, which gave him five Grammy nominations and his first win for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song “Redbone.”
