This Time
by Kirk Franklin (featuring GloRilla)

Album: I Am What I Am (2026)
Charted: 120
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Songfacts®:

  • Kirk Franklin builds "This Time" around a driving horn line sampled from Mandrill's 1972 funk track "Children of the Sun." Hip-hop fans will recognize that same brass riff from Shawty Lo's 2007 hit "Dey Know." Franklin layers on ebullient horns, handclaps, and his signature gospel choir to transform the sample into a high-energy anthem about finding peace in God's timing.
  • The track is the second team-up between Franklin and GloRilla, following their 2024 collaboration "Rain Down On Me" from her debut album, Glorious. Raised in a Christian home in Memphis, GloRilla planned to be a gospel singer, so her guest verse brings a full-circle connection to the church music that first shaped her voice.
  • "This Time" was released as an advance single for Franklin's 14th solo project, I Am What I Am. The double album splits its lineup right down the middle: seven contemporary studio gospel cuts on one half, and seven live church recordings on the other.
  • The single made an instant splash, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart for the week dated October 10, 2026. It was Franklin's 10th leader on the tally, making him the first artist to score double-digit #1s on the Hot Gospel Songs chart.

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