Childish Gambino ended 2016 with a brand new album that is different from anything that he has every come out with before. “Awaken, My Love!” is full of passion and liveliness and has a sound that you were definitely not expecting.

The first song on the album, Me and Your Mama, is such a great introduction that really gets you hooked on the album. This song is about him being in love with someone and he just wants this person to love him back wholeheartedly. The song is full of passion and soul and is just a little snippet of what’s to come on the rest of the album.

   Redbone is the next song that really stood out to me and is probably my favorite song on the album right now. This song starts out very 70’s-esque with a beat that’s retro sounding. The repeated lyric throughout the song is “stay woke”, and I feel like the beat and song really help portray what’s going on now in the media. You see people on the news talking about racism and new shootings happening, and Childish Gambino is trying to get across that you don’t need to let all of this evil distract you. Essentially, you need to stay woke.

   Baby Boy is a bit of a slower song on the album, but it still never fails to disappoint . Childish Gambino wrote this song about his son, who was recently born in 2016. He speaks about how joyful he is to have this new life, but he also feels a bit of pressure and nervousness from this new responsibility. He expresses his thoughts of being a new parent in this soulful set of lyrics.

To be honest, this is an eccentric album that has a few strong songs, but it’s definitely not the greatest album of 2016. It’s different and needs an acquired taste of music to fully appreciate the album as a whole.