GLORIOUS

Take a blind guess at GloRilla's favorite Bible verse and you might pick Galatians 6:9 (“And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not give up”) or perhaps Hebrews 10 : 36 (“For you have need of patience, so that when you do the will of God you may receive what has been promised”). Faith, which is not the same as trust, requires letting go and letting God. Or as Big Glo puts it on her new album, GLORIOUS: “Rain on me, Father God, I will not use an umbrella.”

The average American may not have noticed, but for many GloRilla fans, low-key “it fell” in 2023. Despite the success of “FNF (Let's Go)“and”Tomorrow 2”, her debut EP Anyway, life is great it was slowly accepted and a handful of songs into the record collection Gangsta Art 2 came and went To the modern hater, an entire year between Hot 100 hits can be a decade, and so GloRilla's 2024 was a recalibration, including February's single “Yes Glo!” and a date with Megan Thee Stallion. To recapture hesitant fans, GLORIOUS he finds strength in a higher power.

GloRilla's Christian background is no secret—in interviews, she's shared her childhood dreams of becoming a gospel singer and frequently thanks the man upstairs on social media—but it hasn't come to the fore in her music. GLORIOUS it's still very much a secular rap record, but where Anyway, life is great and April 2024 mixtape Ehhthang Ehhthang were stylistic smorgasbords, her debut album tightens the focus, blending mid-tempo musings on romance and religion with the anthems her fans love most. The 25-year-old rapper has grown as a lyricist, but what's more exciting GLORIOUS it's his temperament. Expanding beyond the playable trap staples and raging soul chops that mark a Serious Rap album, GloRilla channels the music of her youth, traversing crunk and gospel with aplomb.

Before we get to Kirk Franklin, let's go back to the crowd spectators. Sexyy Red collab “Whatchu Kno About Me” feels like a laid-back mixtape, but as much fun as hearing the pair trade verses over a sample of “Wipe me off,” Boosie Badazz's reimagining of the iconic flow takes a karaoke turn. T-Pain tops “I Luv Her,” though the contrast between their vocal styles can't raise Glo's relationship bars (“I know I bother” sometimes/Shit, put your dick in my mouth, it makes me to close up or something”). The back-and-forth hook of “Procedure” lands much better, and Latto goes toe-to-toe with GloRilla's flexible “They call me big mama, bend a bitch on my knees.”