‘Saturday Night Live’: Childish Gambino Debuts New Songs With Performance

Childish Gambino brought his unique musical style to Saturday Night Live, and fans had some things to say.

With Atlanta star Donald Glover serving as host and musical guest for the May 5 episode of the long-running variety sketch series, his musical alter-ego Childish Gambino performed a brand new song during his performance.

The rapper/singer performed a new, unreleased song for his first performance, with fans freaking out about getting fresh tunes on Saturday Night Live. During the performance, Glover also released the music video for new single “This Is America,” which he performed later in the episode. Actors Zoe Kravitz and Daniel Kaluuya introduced the performances.

Most Saturday Night Live fans were joyous to see the singer bring his sound to the show.

Not everyone was a fan of the singer’s psychedelic soul, funk and R&B sound, and mostly confused with the concept of Glover’s alter ego.

Glover has a long history with NBC, since he was a writer on 30 Rock and also starred in the cult comedy Community. Today, he is best known as the writer and creator of FX’s Atlanta, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Musical or Comedy. He also picked up Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy and Outstanding Director for the episode “B.A.N.”

Glover will also be seen on the big screen as a young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opens on May 25. The role was originated by Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The actor also voiced Simba for Disney’s upcoming The Lion King remake. The movie hits theaters on July 19, 2019.

As for Glover’s musical career, Childish Gambino will be heading on a 19-date North American tour. Glover has released three albums under the Childish Gambino name and won a Grammy award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Redbone.” His third album, Awaken, My Love!, was nominated for Album of the Year.

According to Billboard, Glover plans on retiring the Childish Gambino name after he releases his upcoming fourth album. He also signed a deal with RCA Records in January.

“I stand by that decision,” Glover said after the Grammys. “I’m really appreciative of this. I’m making another project right now, but I like endings, I think they’re important to progress.”

Glover also said it was important for some projects to come to an end on a good note.

“I think if a lot of things had death clauses in them, we wouldn’t have a lot of problems in the world, to be honest,” Glover said. “I think endings are good because they force things to get better.”

Saturday Night Live airs weekly at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.