Donald Glover, the multifaceted actor, comedian, and rapper with the stage name Childish Gambino is now dancing onto Google’s AR Playground. This new mobile feature places augmented reality characters called Playmoji’s onto the screens of Google Pixel smartphones.
Dance with Childish Gambino in AR
Just this weekend, Childish Gambino won Record of the Year at the 61st Grammy Awards for the groundbreaking song “This Is America”. The Root reports that although Glover could not attend the show, the award was accepted by Ludwig Göransson, the song’s producer.
Glover, who is of Atlanta and Community fame and an epically talented rapper has us moving our bods with songs like “Redbone” from his Awaken, My Love! album, “Summertime Magic” from his Summer Pack EP, and the platinum and socially woke song “This Is America”.
The three Childish Gambino tunes are making their appearance on Google’s AR Playground along with the man himself. The digitized rapper is now recreated in Glover’s emoji likeness, turning him into a dancing and expressive Playmoji.
Playground users will get to dance right alongside Childish Gambino as he dances with some fancy footwork from choreographer Sherrie Silver from “This Is America”, reports VR Scout. Thanks to ARCore, the moving Gambino stickers are 3D, reactive to users expressions, and are equipped with motion tracking!
Right now, you can learn his dance moves, break it down and record it with you and some friends. You might look like you’re dancing alone or with friends, but the memory and picture will be worth it.
Google AR Playground Details
The expressions will smile with you, the Playmoji will dance with shadows on the floor like in real life while also making the images appear on your mobile phone’s screen without blocking you out for a selfie. Those with a Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, and Pixel 3 XL will get to dance and get some pretty cool photos with the Grammy Award winner.
As an Android user, I’m having some FOMO because my Android doesn’t have the capabilities to use Playmoji’s. That is until I upgrade to one of the Pixel versions listed above. Which is also a reason why lots of us won’t be posting selfies with the groundbreaking artist and posting on social media with #pixeldanceoff.
Oh, how I want to show off my sway with the song “Redbone”. I’ve even got it on vinyl! But alas, the AR Playground is not for me, yet. If you’ve got the capabilities, I suggest you check out the “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, “Stranger Things”, “Marvel Studios Avengers”, and now Childish Gambino AR Playground experiences and nab a selfie with some stars.
Since you can move and dance alongside Gambino, we wonder if they’ll add more facial recognition than a smile and frown. My mind goes to a future of characters mimicking users dance moves too.
Augmented reality is a magical digital realm that positions our mobile screens as a platform that layers imaginary worlds over reality. With musicians becoming Playmojis, and with music and film studios standing behind the technology we can’t wait to see what else lies in store.
