Consisting of tracks being sung rather than rapped, its fusion of psychedelic soul, funk and R&B influences was considered a bold departure from the predominantly hip hop style of his prior work.

[7][8] Glover modified his Pharos app upon its release so that users could watch the success of his first lead single, "Me and Your Mama" at Joshua Tree through a phone virtual reality lens.

features a photo by New York City-based creative director Ibra Ake, in which model Giannina Oteto wears a beaded headdress designed by Laura Wass of WXYZ Jewelry.

[10][11] Prior to the album's release, the cover artwork was included as an easter egg in the episode "Juneteenth" of Glover's FX series Atlanta.

[13] For years, Oteto has accused Ake and his team of avoiding legal contact to actually receive payment for her contribution to the project, and that she's not alone in the fight.

But [we] never received anything... After years of lies and silence then finding out statute of limitation complications... it's been an exhausting, emotional, and overall sad thing to deal with.

Club wrote "Is Childish Gambino suddenly the new Prince, a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist always ready to keep the world an arm's length away from knowing what he's thinking?

He is Donald Glover, a man who can perform and write comedy, act in drama, and drop a truly wonderful album on short notice with all the influences and instructions spelled out".

[3] Perry Kostidakis of the FSView & Florida Flambeau wrote that "with each successive album, Childish Gambino has exhibited phenomenal growth, but no more than on his latest release.

Unflinchingly ambitious and boldly different, "Awaken, My Love" calls back the sounds and themes of the 1970s funkadelic movement to provide a wholly original, emotional and immersive musical experience",[30] with The Guardian's Gwilym Mumford adding "only the limitations of his voice occasionally let him down – he doesn't quite have the range to nail Awaken's more ostentatious vocal lines.

[22] Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "It's at once a homage and a parody, equally aware of that era's excesses and its glories, of the way that the most memorable 1970s R&B merged sensuality, activism, humor, toughness, outlandishness, futurism, soul roots, wild eccentricity and utopian community spirit.

[26] Scott Glaysher of XXL said, "Childish Gambino gets definite props for pushing the envelope and refusing to operate within any genre confinements on this refreshing 49-minute trip through the funkadelic 1970s.

[29] Kitty Empire of The Observer said, "Throughout, Glover's genre fluency is unimpeachable; the only minor drawback is the overmannered air of some of these period pieces, where there could be more straight-up abandon, as on the persuasive 'Me and Your Mama'".

[32] Critic Robert Christgau regarded the album as "a seriously overrated piece of romantic P-Funk retro that owes its Grammy nomination to Atlanta".