Shot in Cuba and inspired by the Brazilian crime epic “City of God” and Prince’s “Purple Rain,” “Guava Island” does not ultimately feature much new music from Childish Gambino — or any singing from Rihanna. In one scene set in a factory, another character tells Deni that he hopes to save enough money to make it to America. At Coachella on Friday night, Glover — who has thrown his own festival, Pharos — did not make a show of plugging “Guava Island,” though he did incorporate tropical imagery and sounds into his set. For one unreleased song, he cleared a section in the crowd to scream over a cacophonous burst of complex drum rhythms, bathed in almost-apocalyptic red lights. “All we are really is like, data — you pass it on to your kids, you pass it on to your friends, your family.”

Source: New York Times April 13, 2019 13:21 UTC