As part of his first Coachella headlining set as Childish Gambino, Donald Glover screened his secretive, highly anticipated new film, Guava Island, which also stars Rihanna. The movie sees Glover playing Deni Maroon, a musician who is in the midst of planning a music festival, and is directed by his regular collaborator Hiro Murai.
Gambino first announced the film during his November 2018 PHAROS Festival in New Zealand, where he premiered a teaser trailer. In the film, Glover’s character performs new iterations of several of his 2018 songs including Record of the Year Grammy winner “This Is America,” “Feels Like Summer,” and “Summertime Magic.”
Glover’s brother, Stephen, told Vanity Fair that the film was inspired both by the Brazilian crime movie City of God and Prince’s 1984 film Purple Rain.
Guava Island also features the song “Saturday,” which Gambino premiered on Saturday Night Live in May 2018. The track has yet to receive a formal commercial release.
