Donald Glover reflects on “This Is America” in a new interview with GQ.
Donald Glover is GQ magazine’s latest cover star, and the rapper/actor connects with the platform for a new interview. During the conversation, it is revealed Gambino’s 2018 hit single “This Is America” was originally supposed to be a Drake diss.
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“I had the idea three years before,” he explained. “I told [director] Hiro [Murai] the idea, and he’s like, ‘I really want to do that.’ The idea for the song started as a joke. To be completely honest, ‘This is America’ — that was all we had was that line.”
“It started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, this sh*t sounds kind of hard though. So I was like, let me play with it.”
Childish Gambino says “This Is America” started as a Drake diss 👀 pic.twitter.com/bOGEN4P8yx
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) April 5, 2023
Afterward, Glover confirmed once again that his dance moves in the music video for “This Is America” were influenced by Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” video. He confessed that he and his team thoroughly studied the “Thriller” clip for a prolonged period to draw inspiration for their own choreography. “I was like, ‘How do you make people care about anything anymore? There’s just so much sh*t.’ Well, you have to have a moment in real time – which was [Saturday Night Live].”
The song was released in 2018 with an accompanying music video with direction from filmmaker Hiro Murai. The track topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Gambino’s first number-one song on the charts. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video.
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