Childish Gambino’s popularity reached new heights in 2017 with the release of his album, Awaken, My Love. The album, which was released in December of 2016, featured the critically acclaimed singles “Redbone” and “Me and Your Mama.” To reward Gambino for his accomplishments, on Thursday (Jan. 4), The Recording Academy announced that Gambino will perform for the 2018 Grammy Awards. This is Gambino’s first time performing for the Grammy’s in his career.
With the success of the album and his television show Atlanta, it’s fitting for Gambino to perform for the most celebrated award ceremony in music. Gambino is up for five Grammy Awards; Album of the Year, Best Urban Contemporary Album, (Awaken, My Love!) Record of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Redbone”).
What makes this accomplishment by Gambino so outstanding is that Awaken is predominantly an R&B album. Gambino initially cut his teeth in the music business as a talented but overlooked rapper. He was seen mainly as a talented entertainer who happened to be great at rapping. This only garnered him a cult-like following. But Gambino flexed his artistic range on Awaken, so the Grammy’s rewarded him in more ways than one.
CBS will air the Grammy’s on Sun., Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
