The first preview of Donald "Childish Gambino" Glover's Awaken, My Love! album is a genre-spanning emotive track that transforms from a rock ballad into an energetic blues outpouring.

The six-minute song channels the sounds of 1970s funk rock bands like Parliament and Funkadelic. Gambino told Billboard magazine how the music he heard as a child influenced his Awaken, My Love album.

"I remember listening to songs my dad would play—albums by the Isleys or Funkadelic—and not understanding the feeling I was feeling," he said. "I remember hearing a Funkadelic scream and being like, 'Wow, that's sexual and it's scary.' Not having a name for that, though; just having a feeling. That's what made it great."

While performing at the 2015 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, Childish Gambino surprised fans by debuting this then-untitled song. The tune was later used in a promo entitled "Momma" for the first season of Gambino's FX show, Atlanta.

When the song was finally released on November 10, 2016, Zane Lowe premiered the tune on his Beats 1 show. Lowe proceeded to spin the track another five times in a row. "I just needed this right now, Donald," the DJ said on air. "It sounds like now. It sounds like this year. So deep. The song is more than music. This is a whole other movement for this guy."

Gambino recorded another song for Awaken, My Love! with a similar title: "The Night Me and Your Mama Met."