3.15.20 to Atavista: The Childish Gambino Victory Lap
March 2020 was anything but easy, for anyone. COVID was beginning to tighten its grip on the country and as a result, the world was shutting down around us. In turn, virtually all of my gigs were canceled and I started working from home, a standard which stayed in place for the majority of 15 months.
Every morning, I booted up my laptops, updating Buffalonians on the latest pandemic news, sharing daily status updates from the state government.
I was somewhat scared. Was this the “new normal,” as then-governor Andrew Cuomo put it? Were things going to change? How long was it going to last?
The questions continued to float up in the air. And this difficult period wasn’t ending anytime soon.
While typing up the news of the day, my home office was fitted with two KRK Rokit studio monitors. I like listening to music while I work, and these things figuratively (and literally) amplified my listening experience. It wasn’t long into the pandemic that I discovered my favorite album of that difficult year – Childish Gambino’s hardly-promoted musical masterpiece, 3.15.20.
This was one of those albums I had to absorb a second time right after my initial listen. It was beautiful. I loved the production, the melodies, the lyrics, the transitions, the guest spots. It was amazing, and a testament to the genius of Donald Glover.
In a dark time of uncertainty, it was something that gave me joy, and in a way, hope for the future. I still love it. It soundtracked an important period of reflection in my life – coming to realization about certain things and pushing through the changes of life around me as my wife and I did our best to make ends meet.
Needless to say, 3.15.20 was a staple of my listening throughout 2020, with the Ariana-Grande feature “Time” becoming my most-played song, according to Spotify Wrapped.
Four years later, 3.15.20 came full circle on 5.13.24. It was “finished,” according to Glover himself on social media. Could a perfect album be made better though? In some ways, yes.
Taking a different route, most of 3.15.20’s tracks didn’t bear typical names. Instead, they were titled based on their album timestamp. That was one of the major differences on the album’s 2024 rebirth, now titled Atavista. All of the songs on this version now have names, some of which matched what fans were already calling them – “Sweet Thang,” “The Violence,” etc.
Atavista was not simply a remixed and remastered version of its predecessor, though. It actually removed some tracks while supplying a couple of stellar additions. The album opens with a brand new song, the titular “Atavista,” and later features a studio version of “Human Sacrifice,” a song performed live but never officially released before. “Feels Like Summer” got the ax, but it still exists in the form of Gambino’s two-song Summer Pack on streaming services.
The album also included a couple of new guest spots, including vocals from Summer Walker and rapper Young Nudy. The latter’s portion can be found on the Atavista edition of “Little Foot Big Foot.” With new guests and other changes, some songs were lengthened, while others, like “Why Go To The Party” were shortened.
A couple of transitions changed, too. If anything, that’s one of my only critiques of Atavista – the transitions between some songs aren’t smooth like they were on 3.15.20. It’s not a big deal, just a personal preference.
Overall, Atavista’s mix is far more polished. The vocals sit more present and much of the time, they lack certain effects heard on 3.15.20, making them sound more natural. Sometimes, I liked this, but other times, I preferred the original mixes. There was nothing that made me say “Why’d he change that?” though. Although some things were different, none of those changes made Atavista worse.
Atavista, a diamond of an album, feels like a victory lap as Donald Glover’s stock continues to rise in the world of entertainment. It’s the latest addition to a resume packed with audio and visual gold. For me personally, I got chills as I queued up Atavista in my morning drive. It was a return to an album I loved, but this time, it had matured. It was something new. I loved what it was, and I love what it is. Between then and now, so much has changed in my own life, and listening to 3.15.20/Atavista as something new felt significant. Just look at the world then and now – we went from fiercely battling a worldwide pandemic to just about conquering it.
To me, Atavista is about growth, and in that, there’s cause for celebration. I was reminded of the joy music continued to bring me while the world was shutting down, and now, it’s a reflection and marker of resolution. It made me want to celebrate overcoming the hills I’ve been faced with, and it inspired me to keep looking forward.