''Child of God II'' is the eighth studio album by American

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

musician

Forrest Frank Forrest Frank (born April 8, 1995) is an American Contemporary Christian music, Christian pop singer, songwriter, and producer from Fulshear, Texas, Fulshear, Texas. He is one half of the music duo Surfaces (band), Surfaces and has a successful s ...

. The album was released on May 9, 2025, through River House Records and 10K Projects. It was made available for CD, LP, and digital download formats. ''Child of God II'' features guest appearances from

Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...

, Nathan Davis Jr, and Limoblaze.

Release and promotion

Singles

''Child of God II'' features six previously released singles, " Your Way's Better", " Drop!", " Nothing Else", " Celebration", " No L's", and "

Amen Amen (, ; , ; , ; , ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic practices as a concluding word, or as a respons ...

". The first track released was "Your Way's Better". It was featured on the album '' Child of God: Deluxe Edition'', which was released on November 1, 2024. The song was released on October 25, 2024, initially peaking at No. 19 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

. In early 2025, the song reached a sudden breakout in popularity, proceeding to No. 2 on the Hot Christian Songs and No. 72 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. The song's popularity achievement is largely credited to promotion on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, and a dance derived from the song.'''' The second single off the album was "Drop!", released on January 24, 2025. Lyrically, "Drop!" speaks about topics of humility. The third track to be released was "Nothing Else", on February 28, 2025. The song featured

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

-star

. "Nothing Else" became a breakout single upon release, charting at No. 14 on the ''Billboard''

Digital Song Sales The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

and No. 4 on the Hot Christian Songs, within the first week of release. On April 13, 2025, Rhett famously broke his ankle while performing the song alongside Frank in concert. The fourth track to be released was "No L's", released on April 11, 2025. "No L's" used a sample of over 10,000 people, recorded at one of Frank's live performances on the Child of God Tour. It achieved a peak of No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs. The fifth single released was "Celebration", released on April 18, 2025. "Celebration" is

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

-themed in lyrics. The sixth single of the album, was "Amen", released on April 25, 2025. "Amen" was released alongside an extended play of the same name, which featured the previous singles "Your Way's Better", "Nothing Else", "No L's", and "Celebration". The seventh single of the album, "Woke Up This Morning", a remix of the song by Nathan Davis Jr, was released the following week. The eighth and final single, "Home", was released on May 5, 2025.

Release

''Child of God II'' was first announced on April 25, 2025, at a live performance in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. On April 26, 2025, the album was officially announced to the public and made available for preorder. It exceeded 100,000 preorders within the first five days of its announcement. On May 9, 2025, ''Child of God II'' was officially released. The album debuted at its peak position of No. 3 on the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

albums chart in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and No. 15 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Writing and production

"Your Way's Better" was both written and produced by Forrest Frank and Pera Krstajić, while Frank wrote and produced "Drop!", "Nothing Else", and "Celebration". "No L's" was written by Frank, Krstajić, and Noah Hayden, with Frank and Krstajić handling production. "Amen" was written by Frank, Krstajić, and Zac Lawson, while Frank and Krstajić produced.

Commercial performance

Album and extended plays

The '' Amen EP'', released concurrently with the single "Amen", peaked at No. 3 on the ''Billboard''

Top Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

. The ''Woke Up This Morning EP'' reached the same position on that chart. The album itself debuted at its peak position of No. 83 on the OCC

UK Album Downloads Chart The UK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts on behalf of the British music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The chart was introduced i ...

and No. 3 on the OCC UK Christian & Gospel Chart. The album reached No. 12 on the ''

'' 200 and No. 1 on the

. It also charted on several minor ''Billboard'' charts, including No. 24 on the Top Streaming Albums, No. 8 on the Top Vinyl Records, No. 5 on the

Top Album Sales The Top Album Sales is a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's top-selling albums in the United States. The chart has been published since December 13, 2014, although the magazine also retrospectively recognize ...

, and No. 5 on the Top Current Albums.

Songs

"Your Way's Better", peaked at No. 62 on the ''

chart. The song reached No. 1 on the

, No. 19 on the

Christian Airplay Christian Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since June 21, 2003. This chart lists the 50 most-listened-to records played on multiple Christian radio stations across the country as monitored by Ni ...

, No. 20 on the Christian AC Airplay, and No. 2 on the Christian Digital Song Sales. The song also reached No. 41 on the ''Billboard'' TikTok Top 50.'''' The second single, "Drop!", peaked at No. 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs. The third single of the album, "Nothing Else" became a breakout single upon release, charting at No. 14 on the ''Billboard''

, No. 4 on the Hot Christian Songs, and No. 2 on the Christian Digital Song Sales chart, within its first week of release. The fifth track of the single, "No L's" peaked at No. 12 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and the same position on the Christian Digital Song Sales.The song "Celebration" reached No. 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs, and No. 9 on the Christian Digital Song Sales. The song "Amen" peaked at No. 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs chart. The following single, "Woke Up This Morning", a remix of the same song by Nathan Davis Jr, reached No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs. "Woke Up This Morning" also peaked at No. 5 on the Top Gospel Songs, No. 9 on the Gospel Streaming Songs, and No. 5 on the Gospel Digital Song Sales. Upon release, eleven additional songs proceeded to enter the charts, including "Encore" at No. 44, "B.I.G." at No. 22, "Father's House" at No. 29, "Paradise" at No. 32, "Dancing in the Presence" at No. 37, "Outside" at No. 36, "Live Your Life" at No. 40, "Happy" at No. 31, "POV" at No. 46, and "In the Room" at No. 43.

Critical reception

''Child of God II'' received generally favorable reviews from critics, most praising the album's diverse sound and ability to blend various genres. Reviewing for ''

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is an online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music and media, published by Logan and Amanda Sekulow. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has been owned by Salem since 1999. O ...

'', Logan Sekulow compared the album to its predecessor, '' Child of God'', saying that the sequel contains "softer production, more gospel-pop, and emotional depth", but still features the same "viral, high-energy joy" as the previous, giving the album a perfect 5-out-of-5 star review. From ''Today's Christian Entertainment'', Mike Laxton awarded the album with a 4.7-out-of-5 star rating, calling it "joyful, intentional, and impossible not to move to". Signaling in a 4-out-of-5 star review, Michael Carder from ''Jesus Freak Hideout'' labelled the album as "the pinnacle of Christian music", reviewing that the album incorporates "new sounds and collaborations" that "come together really well". In a second review for ''Jesus Freak Hideout'', Josh Balogh credited the album with a 4.5-out-of-5 star rating, praising Frank's ability to blend trap, R&B, calypso, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

music. Album of the Year gave the album 50/100, and

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewed it with a 2.5-out-of-5 star rating.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from Tidal. * Amanda Bradshaw – choir *

– producer,

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

, lead vocals, writer * Grace Pehrman – choir * Ilija Mihailovic – choir * Jacob Morris – masterer, mixing * Limoblaze – guest vocals * Mike Cervantes – mastering * Nathan Davis Jr – guest vocals *

Neil Frank Neil Laverne Frank (born September 11, 1931) is an American meteorologist and former director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Florida. He was instrumental in advancing both the scientific and informational aspects of hurricane forecas ...

– writer * Noah Hayden – writer * Pera Krstajić – producer, programmer, writer * Ray Boukris –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

– guest vocals * Tyler Christian – choir * Zach Lawson – writer

Charts

References

{{Forrest Frank 2025 albums Forrest Frank albums Warner Music Group albums