There is a version of this album that could have been insufferable. A record about faith, marriage and new motherhood, made by a Grammy-winning Christian pop singer who nearly died from blood clots in 2023 and came back with a renewed sense of purpose. On paper it sounds like a press release. In practice it sounds like one of the most honest albums Tori Kelly has ever made.
God Must Really Love Me is Kelly’s sixth studio album and her first since 2024’s TORI., a record that leaned hard into Y2K pop and R&B bombast. This one goes in the opposite direction entirely. The production is warm and unhurried, acoustic guitar sitting at the center of most tracks, with just enough texture around it to keep things interesting. Kelly described it as her slow-down album, and that is exactly what it feels like. A deep breath. A record made by someone who has learned not to take things for granted.
The Background
Kelly has had a lot to process over the last few years. In 2023 she was hospitalized with life-threatening blood clots. She recovered, went back on the road, toured with Ed Sheeran, got married, and then in November 2025 gave birth to her son Zayden. She has said that becoming a mother provided a rush of inspiration that reshaped her creative instincts entirely.
That context matters when you listen to this album. These are not abstract songs about gratitude. They are specific, lived-in, and occasionally raw. When Kelly sings about holding people closer and not wanting to take anything for granted, you believe her completely because you know she means it.
The Music
The lead singles Control and Dive set the tone well. Control is quietly one of the best things Kelly has recorded, a song about surrendering the need to have everything figured out that manages to feel both deeply personal and universally relatable. Her vocal performance is restrained in a way that actually makes it more powerful. She is not trying to show off here. She is just singing the truth.
Dive goes a little broader, with a chorus that opens up beautifully over a bed of layered acoustics and soft percussion. It is the most radio-ready moment on the album without feeling calculated. The rest of the record sits comfortably in that warm, acoustic-leaning R&B space that Kelly first established on Unbreakable Smile back in 2015. If you loved that era of her work, this album will feel like a homecoming.
The production throughout is thoughtful without being fussy. Nothing overstays its welcome. Tracks that could have easily been over-produced are left with room to breathe, and Kelly’s voice does the work it has always been capable of when given the right environment.
The Weak Spots
The album is not without its soft patches. A couple of tracks in the middle section feel like they are going through the motions slightly, and the sequencing loses a little momentum around the halfway point before recovering strongly for the final stretch. None of it is bad. It just does not hit as hard as the best moments here.
There will also be listeners who find the faith-forward content a barrier to entry. Kelly has never been shy about her beliefs, and this album leans into that more explicitly than most of her previous work. That is entirely her right, and it is handled with sincerity rather than preachiness. But it is worth knowing going in.
The Verdict
God Must Really Love Me is Tori Kelly at her most unguarded. It is not a flashy album and it does not try to be. What it is, is honest. A record made by someone who went through something genuinely scary, came out the other side, fell in love, started a family, and wanted to document all of it before the feeling faded. That kind of sincerity is rare, and it makes this one of the more quietly affecting albums of 2026 so far.
God Must Really Love Me is out now via Epic Records.
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