“Oh, I hope we change. I really thought this world would change.”
This past weekend, Childish Gambino released the music video for “Feels Like Summer,” a song that debuted alongside “Summertime Magic” in the previously released two-song EP “Summer Pack.”
Similar to “This is America,” a song co-written and co-produced by Gambino and frequent collaborator Ludwig Göransson (“Creed,” “Fruitvale Station,” “Black Panther,” etc.), “Feels Like Summer” is an enigmatic reflection of Gambino’s views on American politics, blackness and popular culture.
However, unlike “This is America,” this new music video celebrates and reminisces upon specific black personalities and significant events within the culture, such as the nomination of Democratic Florida Gov. Andrew Gillum or the murder of rapper XXXTentacion.
Other references and cameos are also dispersed throughout the video: Michelle Obama is seen comforting Kanye West, who wears a MAGA hat. Soulja Boy tells stories to an astonished Lil Pump and Trippie Redd. Zendaya and Lil Uzi Vert get their hair done by Tiffany Haddish and Oprah Winfrey.
These cameos close the disconnect between celebrity and citizen. Artists like Beyoncé, SZA or Frank Ocean are immensely talented but also tragically human – they share the same fears, hopes and anxieties as the rest of us.
In these appearances, we are reminded that progress and joy comes in small glimpses. Nothing has really changed, as America continues to fight a civil war. Understanding this, “Feels Like Summer” relies on our passionate feelings and attitudes toward these icons to complement a wholly dissociated narrative.
Furthermore, Gambino displays no signs of fear, confusion or anger in the video, a contrast from his darker, heightened performance in “This Is America.” Shown simply walking slowly, almost robotically, down an unnamed street, Gambino instead seems apathetic towards the people and events surrounding him.
This apathy is further amplified by a detached animation style and melancholic color palette. Mellow pinks, light browns and mournful oranges embrace each other to create a nostalgic hopelessness – a feeling that burrows itself into the darkened, polysemantic flesh of this track.
Perhaps this apathy is warranted. In a country where black people make up less than 14 percent of the total population, it can sometimes seem difficult to prove that the larger American society understands, or even cares about, the historical plight of minority groups.
Simply put, “Feels Like Summer” is vehemently and unapologetically black. It is not a celebration of hip-hop or rap culture. That this culture is so significantly tied to the experience of being black in America is portrayed as mere, albeit historically important, coincidence — a movement grown organically out of the desire to create a common identity.
“Feels Like Summer” is the antithesis of a diss track; it’s a chill track, a plea from Gambino that asks for all of us to combat hopelessness with imagination and to love and understand one another before, like summer, we become just a pastel memory of a time long-forgotten.
