This Is America

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This Is America
Childish Gambino
publication 5th May 2018
length 3:45
Genre (s) Alternative hip-hop , trap
Author (s) Donald Glover
music Donald Glover,
Ludwig Göransson ,
Jeffery Williams
Producer (s) Donald Glover,
Ludwig Göransson
Label mcDJ Recording, RCA Records
Award (s) 4 × Grammy

This Is America is a song by the American rapper Childish Gambino, the musical stage name of the actor Donald Glover . The piece was written by Glover, Ludwig Göransson and Young Thug and published in May 2018.

American rapper Young Thug, Slim Jimmy , BlocBoy JB , 21 Savage and Quavo were also involved in the song . The accompanying music video was shot by Hiro Murai . This Is America debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as Childish Gambino's first single and was also his first top ten single in the United States.

composition

The song contains a gospel choir and background vocals from various American rappers. Young Thug , Slim Jxmmi , BlocBoy JB , 21 Savage and Quavo each deliver an ad lib . Young Thug also raps in the outro . The lyrics are primarily about life as a black man in the United States and armed violence in the country. Pitchforks Stephen Kearse described the song as a representation of the so-called “tight rope of blackness”, whereby the song “ builds on the sharp contrast between happy, syncretistic melodies and threatening trap rhythms”.

Music video

Directed by Hiro Murai , the music video was released the same day that Gambino performed the song on Saturday Night Live . The video published on YouTube quickly caused a stir. It follows Gambino dancing through a warehouse, while he interacts with seemingly chaotic, but often symbolically charged scenes in the background. Choreographed by Sherrie Silver, Gambino and his entourage of young dancers perform several viral dance moves, including the South African Gwara Gwara and "Shoot" popularized by BlocBoy JB, one of the song's ad lib contributors. At one point in the video, Gambino shoots a man in the back of the head with a handgun , whose head is covered by a hood. Here the music changes from an “Afro-Folk-inspired melody” to a “dark, pulsating trap”.

At another point, he shoots down a church choir with an automatic gun . Every time the guns are used, the key of the music changes. Gambino's dance contrasts with shocking moments of violence and distracts from the chaos unfolding in the background. The American singer SZA makes a cameo . The video ends with Gambino in a darkened part of the camp, where he runs scared towards the camera while a white mob chases him. Director Murai named the films City of God and Mother! as a source of inspiration for the music video.

Interpretations

The Jim Crow stereotype

The music video contains many hidden clues and subliminal messages that highlight and criticize societal problems in the United States . Some recipients showed that the weapons in the music video are always wrapped in red cloths after use. This should indicate that in the United States, guns are still placed above the loss of innocent life in deadly shootings. While Gambino shoots the man in the back of the head, he adopts a bizarre-looking posture that resembles a Jim Crow caricature.

The shooting down of the church choir is an obvious reference to the 2015 Charleston attack . The trousers Childish Gambino wears during the video resemble the uniform trousers worn by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War . Monuments in honor of the Confederate have long come under fire because they are often viewed by African Americans as monuments to slavery. In the video, a hooded man is riding a white horse in the background. This symbol was associated with the first apocalyptic horseman , who proclaimed the outbreak of war and the coming apocalypse in the Bible .

reception

Childish Gambino at the Coachella Festival 2012

For Pitchfork was This Is America the "Best New Track". Glover is returning to Childish Gambino's rap roots. Frank Guan wrote for Vulture : “But it is the prosody and the content of Glover's lyrics that have the deepest influence: With its greedy, fashionable, trigger-happy and drug-swinging rhetoric delivered in a truncated triplet flow, the song is in its entirety a trap number. "

The Complex- magazine wrote: "If the levels are removed, you get a beautifully dark portrait of extreme violence and anger that runs through America, and, most importantly, in the minds of black Americans who try this madness to to survive. The fact that Gambino can weave these strands into a coherent narrative with singing, dance and video underscores that he is the most important creative voice for our people today. "

The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber described the initial response on Twitter as "a gushing river of well-deserved praise" and the video as "the most talked about music video of recent times." Rolling Stone's Daniel Kreps commented that the video was "a surreal, haunting statement about gun violence in America."

Andreas Borcholte from Spiegel Online called Glover “the socio-politically most relevant black music artist at the moment” and described the song and video as a unique “brilliant and powerful panorama of black reality”. Borcholte sees a reference to the Jim Crow stereotype in the dance style of the music video .

One day after its release, the single was number 1 on the American iTunes charts. The music video was viewed 30 million times on YouTube within two days. The video hit 100 million views on May 13, 2018. No lyrics before This Is America got 1 million views in 45 hours on Genius .

The song gained new attention through the protests following the death of George Floyd , while the music video had over 670 million views on YouTube by June 2020.

Awards

year event price Result supporting documents
2018 Teen Choice Awards 2018 Choice Song: Male Artist Nominated
Choice Song: R&B / Hip-Hop Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards 2018 Video of the Year Nominated
Best video with a social message Won
Best Direction Won
Best choreography Won
Best Art Direction Nominated
Best editing Nominated
Best Cinematography Nominated
iHeartRadio MMVAs 2018 Video of the Year Pending
Best Director Pending
Fan Fave Video Pending
2019 Grammy Awards 2019 Record of the Year Won
Song of the Year Won
Rap / Sung collaboration Won
Music video Won

Chart successes

This Is America debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In its first few weeks, the song sold 78,000 digitally and was streamed 65.3 million times in the United States . The accompanying music video made up 68% of all streaming. This Is America is also Childish Gambino's first Top 10 ranking. Since Justin Timberlake , who started Can't Stop the Feeling! topped the charts, Glover is also the first-ever Emmy Award winner on the Hot 100.

Chart placements
Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 39 (4 weeks) 4th
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 20th (5 weeks) 5
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) 16 (6 weeks) 6th
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 6th (10 weeks) 10
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 1 (17 weeks) 17th

literature

  • Ulli Armbrust: Between hedonism and discrimination. Location of a trap song in the "Dirty South" based on the subject of slavery in the music video for "This Is America". GRIN Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-668-92344-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Audie Cornish, Monika Evstatieva: Donald Glover's 'This Is America' Holds Ugly Truths To Be Self-Evident. In: npr.com. National Public Radio , May 7, 2018, accessed May 9, 2018 .
  2. ^ Rob Arcand: Childish Gambino Debuts Politically-Charged New Song “This is America” on SNL: Watch. In: Spin . Eldridge Industries, May 6, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c Frank Guan: What It Means When Childish Gambino Says 'This Is America'. In: Vulture . New York Media, LLC, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Spencer Kornhaber: Donald Glover Is Watching You Watch Him. In: The Atlantic . Emerson Collective, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  5. ^ A b Joshua Espinoza: Here Are the Rappers Who Contributed to Childish Gambino's "This Is America". In: Complex. Complex Media, Inc., May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Martha Tesema: Donald Glover tackles gun violence in powerful video for 'This Is America,' his new single. In: Mashable . Ziff Davis , May 7, 2018, accessed May 6, 2018 .
  7. ^ A b Khal: The Real Meaning Behind Childish Gambino's “This is America”. In: Complex. Complex Media, Inc., May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b Stephen Kearse: "This Is America" ​​by Childish Gambino Review. In: Pitchfork . Condé Nast, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Eric Skelton: Childish Gambino Returns With Video For New Song "This Is America". In: Pigeons & Planes. Complex Media, Inc., May 6, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  10. ^ Doreen St. Félix: The Carnage and Chaos of Childish Gambino's “This Is America”. In: The New Yorker . Condé Nast, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  11. ^ Judy Berman: 'This Is America': 8 Things to Read About Childish Gambino's New Music Video. In: The New York Times . The New York Times Company, May 8, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Doreen St. Félix: Childish Gambino releases surprise song This is America. In: BBC News . British Broadcasting Corporation , May 6, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Desire Thompson: Decoding Childish Gambino's Stunning "This Is America" ​​Visual. In: Vibe . Eldridge Industries, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Khumo Pulumo: WATCH: Childish Gambino masters 'Gwara Gwara' in new music video. In: eNCA. e.tv, May 7, 2018, accessed on May 8, 2018 (English).
  15. ^ Aida Amoako: Why the Dancing Makes 'This Is America' So Uncomfortable to Watch. In: The Atlantic . Emerson Collective, May 8, 2018, accessed May 20, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Lisa Respers France: 'This Is America': The Childish Gambino video explained. In: CNN . Turner Broadcasting System , May 8, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Mahita Gajanan: An Expert's Take on the Symbolism in Childish Gambino's Viral 'This Is America' Video. In: Time . Time Inc. , May 7, 2018, accessed May 9, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Zack Sharf: 'This Is America' Director Hiro Murai Shares Video Influences: 'City Of God' Meets the Last 20 Minutes of 'mother!' In: IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation, May 11, 2018, accessed May 20, 2018 .
  19. ^ Ilana Kaplan: Childish Gambino 'This Is America': All of the hidden references in hit music video. In: The Independent . May 8, 2018, accessed May 19, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Ben Beaumont-Thomas: This is America: the theories behind Childish Gambino's satirical masterpiece. In: The Guardian . Guardian Media Group, May 8, 2018, accessed May 9, 2018 .
  21. ↑ a b c Sonia Rao: 'This Is America': Breaking down Childish Gambino's powerful new music video. In: The Washington Post . Nash Holdings, May 7, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Ryan Middleton: Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' Video Is Worth The Hype. In: Magnetic Magazine. May 7, 2018, accessed May 19, 2018 .
  23. ^ Daniel Kreps: Watch Childish Gambino's Caustic Video for New Song 'This Is America'. In: Rolling Stone . Jann Wenner , May 6, 2018, accessed on May 8, 2018 .
  24. ^ A b c Andreas Borcholte: Video shocker "This Is America": America dances, America kills. In: Spiegel Online . SPIEGELnet GmbH, May 8, 2018, accessed on May 8, 2018 .
  25. ^ Brian Cantor: Childish Gambino's “This Is America” Claims # 1 On iTunes Sales Chart Following “SNL”. In: Headline Planet. Cantortainment Network, May 6, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Childish Gambino's This is America gets 100 million hits in just over a week. In: Channel24. Media24 Holdings, May 14, 2018, accessed May 14, 2018 ( AFP ).
  27. ↑ Chris Mench: Childish Gambino's “This Is America” Becomes The Fastest Song To One Million Pageviews In Genius History. In: Genius . Genius Media Group Inc., May 8, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Jonathan Bernstein: Streams of NWA's 'F-k tha Police' Nearly Quadruple Amid Nationwide Protests. In: Rolling Stone . Penske Media Corporation, June 3, 2020, accessed June 3, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Palmer Haasch: People are posting Minneapolis protest footage to TikTok and 'This Is America' has become their anthem. In: Insider. Insider Inc., May 29, 2020, accessed June 3, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Caitlin Paroczai: The George Floyd Protests Are Being Soundtracked to "This Is America" ​​on TikTok. In: Student Edge. June 2, 2020, accessed on June 3, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Esme Douglas: Teen Choice Awards 2018: See the full list of winners. In: Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc. , August 12, 2018, accessed August 23, 2018 .
  32. ↑ MTV VMA 2018: These are the winners. In: mtv.de . INTL Viacom International Inc., August 21, 2018, accessed August 23, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Gil Kaufman: Shawn Mendes, Drake Lead 2018 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards Nominees. In: Billboard . Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, August 1, 2018, accessed August 23, 2018 .
  34. ↑ 2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominees And Winners List. Grammy Awards , February 10, 2019, accessed June 2, 2019 .
  35. ^ A b Gary Trust: Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' Blasts in at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100. In: Billboard . Billboard-Hollywood Media Group, May 14, 2018, accessed May 14, 2018 .
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  39. ↑ Official Singles Chart Results Matching: This Is America. In: officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company , accessed May 14, 2018 .