“Internet Trolls” Single Review: Glorilla Thinks You’re Chronically Online

On her latest single “Internet Trolls,” Memphis rapper Glorilla has some strong words for those who exploit the shroud of internet privacy. A self-help song for the ‘chronically’ online, “Internet Trolls” is another instant hit following the rapper’s meteoric rise to fame. The new single coincides with Glorilla’s performance at the 65th annual Grammy awards, and comes in advance of her highly anticipated debut studio album.

This time, though, “Internet Trolls” sees Glorilla step outside of her usual musical domain to take on a crunk-inspired beat. While the rapper’s last two hits, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2,” fit squarely within the trap genre, “Internet Trolls” blends trap and crunk, employing the slow-grinding tempo distinctive of the hip-hop subgenre. The song opens with a series of booming horns, then a snare pattern lead-in, before blowing out the speakers with stripped-down bass and trap hi-hats when the beat drops.

This earworm beat fits a well-established southern trap formula that, at this point, somewhat necessarily induces excitement and hype within listeners. Yet the beat also embraces elements of Y2K hip-hop, with blasting horns emblematic of tracks like“Get Buck” by fellow Tennessee rapper Young Buck.

Lyrically, Glorilla rebukes internet falsities and the track’s titular “trolls” — chronically online cyberbullies. She eschews the stifling norms and constraints of the internet, preaching a life that values face-to-face and intimate contact over intangible internet clout. With lyrics like “You could be who you wanna be, live how you wanna live,” Glorilla tells her listeners to break free of social media’s often damaging pressures and expectations.

Clocking in at under two and a half minutes, the song is somewhat gossamer in nature, with barely two choruses and verses. “Internet Trolls” doesn’t exactly re-invent the genre. But it’s sure to give fans just enough of Glorilla’s signature style to keep them satisfied until her debut album arrives.

—Staff writer Derek Yuan can be reached at derek.yuan@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByDerekYuan.