After a nearly three-year hiatus from dropping albums and experiencing a tragic family loss, G-Eazy returns with some reflections on his new LP, Freak Show.
The multi-platinum-selling rapper (born Gerald Earl Gillum), 35, released his seventh studio album on Friday, June 21. The revealing effort — which leans into the rapper’s musical sensibilities spanning hip-hop, pop-punk, trap, alternative and more — details some of the hardships and struggles he’s endured both during his industry come-up and in recent years — namely, the loss of his mother, Suzanne Olmsted, who died in November 2021.
On vulnerable album tracks like “Love You Forever,” which was released as a single in May, the rap artist opens up about coping with the heartbreaking loss while revisiting old memories to help address his grief. “My dear mama / My sweet mama / Nobody’s gonna hurt you / ‘Cause Gerald’s always gonna love you,” he rhymes sweetly on the chorus.
Zachery Ali
Meanwhile, other upbeat songs like “Anxiety” — a stark switch-up from the aforementioned and the album’s head-nodding tracks — describe the ups and downs of G-Eazy’s mental state with lines like “Anxiety, insomnia / Manic episodes, body dysmorphia” and “Some days I’m high, I’m high, I’m high/ Throw my pain away … Some days I hide, I hide, I hide / I hide away.”
Guest features on Freak Show include French Montana, Coi Leray, Kaliii, Leon Bridges and Lancey Foux. The 12-track album also features previously released singles “Femme Fatale” and “Lady Killers III,” an upgraded version of his viral 2024 hit, “Lady Killers II.”
A few weeks before his new album, G-Eazy announced his Freak Show World Tour, writing on Instagram, “YEEEE! WELCOME TO THE FREAK SHOW… CANT WAIT ? SEE YOU THERE.”
The 41-date run kicks off in Berkeley, Calif., on Oct. 24 before making stops in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago and Seattle. The “Me, Myself & I” artist will start the international leg of his tour in Europe at the top of 2025, with shows in Germany, France, Ireland and the U.K., before concluding in Australia and New Zealand.
Zachery Ali
G-Eazy dropped his previous album, These Things Happen Too, in 2021, just a few months before his mother died. Speaking to USA Today about being more transparent on his new LP, G-Eazy said, “It’s an album about self-acceptance. It is honest. It’s revealing of how I got here, who I’ve been, the stories of the come-up and some of the hardships and some of the missteps and some of the flaws along the way.”
The rapper also shared that recording his mother’s “cathartic” ode “Love You Forever” was his “toughest” and “biggest breakthrough.” However, he may not perform the song on his upcoming tour, as he added, “I was breaking down while I was trying to record.”
“Grief, man, it comes in waves,” he continued. “You have to lean into the feelings of it. You can’t just bury it. The only way to move forward is to feel it.”
Freak Show is now streaming on all platforms.
