“Time” features Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande wrestling with a lack of direction and trying to find meaning in the world. Gambino expressed similar themes of uncertainty on his 2018 track “Feels Like Summer,” which appears on the album under the name “42.26.” It features experimental ‘80s pop style synths with booming drums.

If the song had been titled similarly to the rest of the album’s songs, it would’ve been called “6.31.” However, this song and “Algorhythm” are the only two songs without their timestamps used as titles.

The chorus originally appeared in the 2019 film Guava Island, starring Glover. This version was first previewed via live stream on donaldgloverpresents.com.