Childish Gambino: This is America

Written by Joshua Blue

Tenor

In category: Song of the Day

Published June 18, 2020

In response to current protests against police brutality, NYFOS is re-posting Songs of the Day from tenor Joshua Blue, who has been bringing our attention to the Black Lives Matter movement on Song of the Day since 2017. He is currently requesting donations to support the Equal Justice Initiative.

Childish Gambino’s (Donald Glover) “This Is America” took the world by storm when it was released earlier this year. A look at years of American culture, packed tightly into an explosive 4 minute video, and portrayed through a series of overlapping scenes mostly relegated to the background of the music video. The video often shows you smiling faces, dancing, novelty, all while the background shows us burning cars, rioting, inactive bystanders, suicide, chaos. The possible meaning of every second, and every inch of the video has been scrutinized by everyone except for Gambino himself. It is possible that he wanted you to find the meaning in it yourself, and I wholeheartedly agree. Approach the music video with an open mind, and see what speaks loudest to you.

DON’T JUST LISTEN. WATCH.

Originally posted October 5, 2018

author: Joshua Blue

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British-American tenor and Toulmin Foundation Scholar Joshua Blue is a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist with the Washington National Opera. Mr. Blue has performed in several standout NYFOS programs, including Protest, W. C. Handy and the Birth of the Blues, and Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.

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