There are so many film and television productions in Atlanta nowadays because of the film credits. But many of them use Atlanta and the surrounding areas as stand-ins for other places. Not Atlanta. Donald Glover’s masterpiece features the city front and center.
Not only does the show express Atlanta visually though, Glover is quite a talented musician (you might be familiar with Childish Gambino?), and so the show’s soundtrack is also an attraction.
Case in point: The very first episode of Atlanta premiered on September 6th, 2016 and the very first strains of music you heard were a song by local hip-hop group… Migos.
Calling them a “local hip-hop group” instead of “global superstars” was not a joke either. “Bad and Boujee” wasn’t released until October 28th, 2016, and you might remember that even that song didn’t spike to #1 until after Donald Glover gave them a shoutout at the Golden Globes the following January.
All of which is to say, you should be paying attention to the music of Atlanta.
So far, in the two trailers for the show’s upcoming season we’ve gotten “Too Fast” by Baltimore-based group Sonder and “Gap in the Clouds” by London singer Yellow Days. Both are smooth, moody, R&B influenced songs, but I found the Yellow Days one particularly notable for his throwback voice that evokes a nostalgic sound in a throughly modern song.
Discovering new music is always great, but it’s sometimes tough to do. Television, movies, and even commercials are all minefields of great music discovery. If the past is any guide, Atlanta and its creator Donald Glover have quite the ear for it.
The second season of Atlanta premieres on FX on March 1, 2018.
