GloRilla is riding high after her unexpected cameo on Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s new album I Said I Love You First – and the Memphis rapper couldn’t be happier about catching fans off guard.
“I like it, and I like how it shocks people,” the 25-year-old (born Gloria Hallelujah Woods) tells PEOPLE about her buzzy outro on “Cowboy.” “I’m always in for a good surprise.” The collab came together when Blanco reached out: “I was excited because I love Selena.”
Fresh off a high-energy halftime performance at the McDonald’s All American Games in Brooklyn – where she delivered a condensed set including “TGIF” for the teen audience – GloRilla is now focused on her Glorious Tour. The trek, supporting her 2024 debut album Glorious, marks her first headlining run and has become a creative laboratory.
“I learned to stop putting restrictions on myself,” she says about evolving her live show. Taking cues from legends, she studies Beyoncé’s 2007 The Beyoncé Experience tour “quite a few times” and Michael Jackson’s performances for inspiration: “I get hints and ideas from it.”
Between tour stops and upcoming festival appearances (including Coachella and Dreamville Fest), GloRilla is already plotting her next album. “I’m trying to see the type of lane that I want to go in,” she says, explaining she listens to unreleased tracks from a fan’s perspective.
The “F.N.F.” rapper’s momentum continues with recent milestones: a Saturday Night Live debut, Billboard’s Powerhouse Award, and iHeartRadio’s Hip-Hop Artist of the Year honor. As she tells it, the key is staying unpredictable – whether in music or basketball arena surprises.
