Childish Gambino's Bando Stone & The New World has dropped, marking the final album under that imprint. But it also doubles as a soundtrack to his upcoming film of the same name. Speaking to Apple Music's Zane Lowe, he says the album will force "the audience to participate [in the film] in a way that I don't feel like most things force you to participate."
"It forces you to have an imagination, because if you put out the soundtrack first, then ... I already see people being like, 'This is very cinematic. This must be the part that ... this feels like a credit sequence,'" he says. "All of that stuff allows you to have to participate, which a lot of stuff doesn't ask you to do."
Gambino says he's been working on the film since he was on the series Community, which ran from 2009 to 2015, but he "just didn't have the time."
The album was also some time in the making. Having been inspired by the Lion King, he says he sets out to create bodies of art that similarly make people feel something.
"This album and every song on it are moments," he says, adding the album "has a lot of sincerity in it." Since he considers it "a big goodbye album," Gambino says it was "made for us to get together," specifically at his live shows.
"If this live show isn't the best live show you've ever seen by the first song, you can have your money back. This album was made of [songs] like, 'Yeah, let's have a big old party,'" he teases. "I'm going to add all these new songs. I'm going to add all this new technology, but the live event is what makes it valuable to me."