“But I’m just making it for fun right now. But soon, something will happen I promise. Something will happen.”

Cox then clarified if the music would be released under the Childish Gambino moniker, noting that she had heard the name had been retired. “No, no, no, that was out in the ethos,” Glover said. “You don’t have to worry about that. He’ll be back.”

Glover told fans during a performance at New York’s Governors Ball festival in 2017: “I’ll see you for the last Gambino album.” In an interview shortly afterwards, he explained his decision, saying: “There’s nothing worst than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’ You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”

At the 2018 Grammys, he doubled down on the announcement, telling reporters backstage: “I stand by that. I’m really appreciative of this [Grammy]. I’m making another project right now. But I like endings, I think they’re important to progress.”

However, in 2019, he backtracked on the decision slightly. “I think I’m still going to do shows. I’m not quite sure,” he said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “I really love making music.”

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In March 2022, he visited the TV show again with another update on new music. “I’m making a lot of music,” he said. “I really love doing it; I’ve made a bunch of it. It’s just really about how to experience it at this point.”

Glover’s last full release as Childish Gambino arrived in 2020 with the album ‘3.15.20’. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “The impressive ‘3.15.20’ is well worth the wait — we’ll keep our fingers firmly crossed, then, that he doesn’t give in to his past evasiveness and take the record down again.”

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During their conversation, Coel told Glover that she loves his latest album, to which he responded: “I still don’t feel like I’m done with that [music] project.”

Childish Gambino performs on the Amphitheatre stage during Splendour In The Grass 2019 on July 20, 2019 in Byron Bay, Australia. CREDIT: Matt Jelonek/WireImage

Glover then digressed into telling Coel that, when the coronavirus pandemic hit around the time of his fourth album’s release, he visited “a woman who I go to, almost a shaman” and revealed to her that he’s had desires to write a bible.

“I told her I wanted to write a Bible; that was years ago,” said Glover, who earlier in the interview discussed having a spiritual disposition in part owing to growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness.

“I was like, ‘I just keep getting this feeling.’ [The woman] was like, ‘You have to put it out in pieces. How long do you think they’re gonna wait?’ She said, ‘You’ll know when the time is.’ And then when coronavirus hit, I was like, ‘Everybody’s stuck inside’, and I’ve been in The Temple [his recording studio] listening to [‘3.15.20’] and suddenly I thought, ‘Oh, some people will get it.’”

Michaela Coel in ‘I May Destroy You’ CREDIT: Natalie Seery

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Glover went on to explain that Coel’s apprehension that her show I May Destroy You, which traverses sexual violence, race and sexuality, may be “too triggering” in the context of Black Lives Matter, lockdown and the shadow of #MeToo.

“That’s why it was really funny when you were talking about your show. You’re like, ‘I’m a little afraid…’, Glover told Coel. “I’m like, ‘[Lockdown] is actually the only time some people would have to have that type of medicine, to be able to watch a show like that and really get it.”

He added that he likes “to release stuff on Sundays” for that matter, in the hope that people will engage better on a slower weekend day.

Earlier this year, Glover told reporters after winning his Grammy award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his 2016 song ‘Redbone’ that he stood by his decision to bring the curtain down on his Childish Gambino project.

“I stand by that,” he said. “I’m really appreciative of this [Grammy].”

He went on to say he was working on “another project”, which was later transpired to be ‘3.15.20’.

Glover added to the reporters: “But I like endings, I think they’re important to progress. 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. I think endings are good because they force things to get better.”

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