The lead single "WRK" was released on April 18, 2025. An extended play (EP) of songs cut from the album, GDLU (Preluxe), was released on July 4, 2025.
Background and recording
JID released his critically acclaimed third studio album The Forever Story in 2022. On April 15, 2025, while teasing the single "WRK" he stated:
"Starting this new journey coming off The Forever Story has been a very strange, productive, yet tedious process. [...] I live my life by the saying "you can only control what you can control," so this is the first step into a new world that I control. And. It's. Fucking. UGLY"[1]
He got the idea for the album title from his grandmother, who passed in 2019. Before her death, they were talking about world events and his grandmother said, "God does like ugly, letting all this [happen]." and recommended that he name his album after what she said. He began working on the album in 2020.[2]
Composition
Overview
The album is primarily a southern hip-hop and trap album. Paste compared JID's rapping style to that of OutKast, with his quick, energetic, and smooth lines that frequently change flow.[3]
Songs
On "Glory", JID raps about the Bible Belt and the effects of Christian tradition in the Black south, telling the story of his older brother in prison.[4] The song is the only fully clean track on the album and incorporates vocals from a choir from Memphis, Tennessee, who prayed over JID after they cleared their sample.[2] JID ventures into Miami bass on "Sk8", featuring Ciara and EarthGang. On "No Boo", with Jessie Reyez, he raps quickly in Spanish. "On McAfee" contains a "fiery chorus" from Baby Kia, and "Of Blue" is a song divided into three phases. The penultimate song, "K-Word" contains strings similar to work by Hans Zimmer and contains dense lyrics about karma.[3] The closing track, "For Keeps", has JID reveal that he is a father.[4]
Release and promotion
JID performed at the Dreamville Festival on April 6, 2025, and previewed the song "WRK" during his set. After his show, he shared a pre-save link to the song, which was later released on April 18 as the lead single for God Does Like Ugly. The song was his first solo track since The Forever Story.[5]
On May 8, JID released a trailer for the album and announced the release date of August 8. He also revealed that the album would have 15 tracks.[6][7] A press release described the trailer as depicting "scenes from a lost world, borrowing inspiration from films like The Warriors and Mad Max but as always with J.I.D, set upon the backdrop of Atlanta."[8] On July 20, JID told his fans to go to Washington Square Park in New York City, where he announced five "Dollar & A Dream" concerts in various cities and revealed the full album cover.[9][10] The tracklist was revealed on August 5th, with JID later announcing that the song "Sun" would be added to the album on the 11th, after the album's release.[11]
JID is scheduled to embark on the "God Does Like World Tours" tour in support of the album, with support from Young Nudy, Mick Jenkins, Jordan Ward, Baby Kia, Swavay, Marco Plus, DC the Don, Niko Brim, and Kai Cash.[12][13]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, God Does Like Ugly received a weighted average score of 73 from six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18] Mary Chiney of Beats Per Minute rated the album 75/100[15] and Kiana Fitzgerald of Consequence gave it a B+.[2] Benny Sun of Paste rated the album a 6.7/10, noting that it is a decline in quality following the promise from The Forever Story.[3] Writing for Rolling Stone, Mankaprr Conteh gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying that despite the overall narrative, the album's sound is less smooth and unified than JID's previous effort. He also said that some of JID's rapping on songs such as "What We On" and "WRK" felt wordy.[4] Paul Attard of Slant Magazine rated the album 2 out of 5 stars, saying that JID gets lost in his own ambition in trying to match the reception of his last project, ending up in a cluttered mess.[16] Kabelo Chirwa of Spectrum Culture rated the album 86/100.[17]
To help promote the album, a promotional EP, GDLU (Preluxe), was released on July 4, 2025. "Preluxe" is a portmanteau of "prelude" and "deluxe"; the EP contains songs that were cut from God Does Like Ugly. It features guest appearances by Lil Yachty, 6lack, and Eminem.[32]
Background and release
JID announced GDLU (Preluxe) on July 1, 2025, at the end of the music video for his song "32 (Freestyle)", in which he rapped over the instrumental of "HBA" by Playboi Carti.[33][34] On July 3, he released the song "Beau", which continued to promote the EP, although it did not appear on the actual project.[35][36] On August 9, all songs from the EP were appended onto God Does Like Ugly on a release dubbed the Preluxe Edition.[37]
Composition
The EP consists of four songs, lasting nearly 17 minutes long. It contains features from Lil Yachty, 6lack, and Eminem. The final track "Animals (Pt. I)", featuring Eminem (in his second collaboration with JID, after "Fuel"), contains two nearly-three-minute long technical verses from each of the rappers. Eminem gained attention in the song for his line "With these magazines, I act out like Ye and his cousin," referencing Kanye West's song "Cousins", where West confessed to an incestuous relationship he had with his cousin when they were both children.[38] "Animals (Pt. I)" was released as a standalone single on July 7.[39]
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