Although Childish Gambino's body of musical work has now been recognized by the GRAMMY Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his hit "Redbone," that may not be enough to change Donald Glover's plan to give Gambino only one more try before retirement. Billboard zeroed in on the will-he or won't-he question of how long Glover's alias has left to produce, following up on the news Glover made discussing Gambino's final project last summer and his need to keep things "fresh."
Glover definitely kept things fresh on Music's Biggest Night when he took the GRAMMY Stage. He was joined on stage for his performance of "Terrified" by child actor/singer JD McCrary. Unlike Gambino, Glover believes McCrary has an inspiring future. "He's just a natural talent. It was really nice to be able to share that with him," said Glover, saying songs are an escape from the "machine" of the music industry. "To him it was just, 'I get to sing.' So it was really inspiring."
In the same backstage interview in which it seemed that the future retirement of Childish Gambino was set in stone, Glover declared things felt "surreal" and that he would give the following advice to his younger self. "Nothing is what it seems, everything is made-up, so you have to control your destiny and your narrative," Glover imagines himself saying — perhaps a clue to the fate of Childish Gambino.
