GLORIOUS

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

The average American may not have noticed, but for many GloRilla followers, she low-key “fell off” in 2023. Despite the white-hot success of “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2,” her debut EP Anyways, Life’s Great was tepidly received, and a handful of songs on label compilation Gangsta Art 2 came and went. For the modern hater, a full year between Hot 100 hits might as well be a decade, and so GloRilla’s 2024 has been a recalibration of sorts, including the February single “Yeah Glo!” and tour dates with Megan Thee Stallion. To re-captivate vacillating fans, GLORIOUS finds strength in a higher power.

GloRilla’s Christian background is no secret—in interviews, she’s shared childhood dreams of becoming a gospel singer, and she frequently thanks the man upstairs on social media—but it’s hardly come to the fore in her music. GLORIOUS is still by and large a secular rap record, but where Anyways, Life’s 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 turnt-up anthems her fans love most. The 25-year-old rapper has grown as a lyricist, but what’s most exciting about GLORIOUS is its idiosyncrasy. Expanding beyond playlistable trap prerequisites and the wistful soul chops that signal A Serious Rap Album, GloRilla channels the music of her youth, cycling through crunk and gospel with aplomb.

Before we get to Kirk Franklin, let’s circle back to the crowd-pleasers. Sexyy Red collab “Whatchu Kno About Me” feels like a mixtape loosie, but as fun as it is to hear the pair trade verses over a sample of “Wipe Me Down,” the repurposing of Boosie Badazz’s iconic flow veers toward karaoke. T-Pain swings through on “I Luv Her,” though the contrast between their vocal styles can’t elevate Glo’s pick-me relationship bars (“I know I be naggin’ sometimes/Shit, put dick in my mouth, make me shut up or somethin’”). The back-and-forth hook of “Procedure” lands far better, and Latto goes toe-to-toe with GloRilla’s flex talk: “They call me big mama, bend a bitch over my knees.”

As cool as these features are, it’s hard to say GloRilla needs them. Just listen to her stomp through “Let Her Cook,” sneering, “I ain’t gon’ cry in no Honda, I ain’t gon’ cry in no Wraith either,” or the way she swag surfs all over the rowdy and ridiculous “TGIF,” retooling a two-year-old Koto song to show off her “moose knuckle.” An eager student of the Chief Keef school of wordplay, GloRilla brings salty gravitas to tender moments (“The only man that showed me love correctly was my father”) and threats alike (“Talkin’ ’bout you gon’ put your hands on who? Your son gon’ be a bastard”).

Being believable isn’t always enough. The pensive Timbaland production on “Stop Playing” fails to gel with Glo’s brash storytelling, undercutting her semi-serious struggle raps (“Ninja turtle, I’m from them gutters” reads dumb but sounds great). The clear low point is the mawkish Muni Long feature “Don’t Deserve,” which half-works until you pay attention to Long’s hook: “Don’t ever let him cheat on you/Don’t ever let him beat on you.” A GloRilla song could convince anyone to drop their ain’t-shit boyfriend, but breaking the cycle of abuse is something else entirely, and it tips the song from sentimental to maudlin.

The album’s religious tracks smartly sidestep melodrama and evangelism by focusing on Glo’s own relationship with the divine. On “Glo’s Prayer” she’s desperate over a lover, embarrassed to be “holdin’ up the prayer line about things like this.” Another artist might celebrate how God helped them get over it, but Glo ends the song still ensnared by her feelings, prioritizing messy honesty over neat conclusions. And though “Rain Down on Me” has drawn ire from keyboard warriors aghast that Kirk Franklin would appear on such an explicit album, when GloRilla petitions the Lord, “Watch over my haters, they the ones that make me go the hardest/I just want us all to win, I just want us all to prosper,” well—that’s just Christlike (Matthew 5:44).

“Y’all made me feel real crazy,” Glo admits on “Intro.” “So I came back with a vengeance, you feel me?” Even with a chip on her shoulder, her debut album avoids impersonal radio overtures, banking on GloRilla’s taste and charm to remind listeners why they loved her music in the first place. Despite the occasional stumble, GLORIOUS always feels like a personal dispatch from Gloria Hallelujah Woods, taking no shit, never giving up.