Photo by Burak Cingi/Redferns
“Awaken, My Love!” was a breakthrough record for Childish Gambino, earning him critical acclaim and a major hit with “Redbone,” but this weekend it was revealed the project was originally titled Operation Highjump.
Ibra Ake, a writer on Donald Glover’s series Atlanta and also his creative director, posted an Instagram video of vinyl LPs bearing the project’s original title:
“We changed the name to ‘Awaken, My Love!’ last minute,” Ake wrote. “Before that we called the album a different name and it was gonna look like this. Pick yours up at Lovebox today.”
The image itself, which was also featured in an episode of Atlanta, remains the same, while there are a number of trippy font options that seem to correspond to the album’s surreal ‘70s funk sound. In an interview with Pigeons & Planes, artist Laura Wass said she had originally made the headdress featured on the cover for another artist, but wound up not being used. Based on what Ake wrote in his post it seemed that some of these vinyls were available to purchase at Lovebox Festival in London, where Gambino performed this weekend.
It’s unclear if this is what the title was referencing, but Operation Highjump was the name of a failed U.S. Navy mission to Antarctica in the 1940s.
The multi-talented artist also made headlines earlier this week with the surprise release of his Summer Pack EP featuring the tracks “Summertime Magic” and “Feels Like Summer.” While the two Summer Pack songs aren’t as overtly political as Gambino’s no. 1 hit “This is America,” Genius did note that there’s a message about the impact of climate change on “Feels Like Summer.”
Read all the lyrics to “Awaken, My Love!” and the rest of Childish Gambino’s discography on Genius now.
