Five years ago, there was precious little to look forward to. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Donald Glover released his fourth album as Childish Gambino, 3.15.20. 

It was surprising, because Donald’s best known for his rollouts. Because the Internet’s rollout was accompanied by listening parties, a nationwide tour, and a short film and screenplay. The cover of Awaken, My Love! was teased in his TV show, Atlanta and the album culminated in his music festival, Pharos. His song, “This Is America,” became his biggest mainstream hit today with a viral music video. So, he clearly was familiar with rolling his albums out successfully—there was no self-sabotage here. So, why the quiet release?

“People are always going to want what they want, but I have to express what I’m going through. I had just lost my father, I had just had a kid, and I was going through a lot. I was having a lot of different new experiences and that’s what I expressed,” he said to Complex. “I secretly love that when you go on Spotify, it doesn’t even come up in major albums. A kid who is just getting into me is able to log on and be like, “Wait, there’s a whole album in here,” and I think that’s kind of fun. But, you know, I was also just kind of going through something. It kind of felt like my relationship with my dad was not finished, so… Yeah.”

For what it’s worth, I’m grateful he released the album when he did. That album—his best, by far!—got me through a really difficult time. It did the same for a lot of other people. 

Along with the music, he made a statement: say what you want to say, when you need to say it. You help other people when you do. And you didn’t need to keep chasing status or more sales if you didn’t want to. 

Four years later, Donald Glover would re-release a complete version of 3.15.20, under its complete title, Atavista. It probably would have made a stronger, and wider-reaching, impression if he combined his efforts into one launch, rather than split it into two. Still, I’m glad he didn’t wait four extra years—that I got to spend four extra years of my life with it. It brought a lot of good vibes into a bad time. While I still play Atavista a lot, every March 15, I play the original and let my brain time travel.