Kate Hudson is a certified Hollywood A-lister, but that doesn’t prohibit her from writing a song when she wants to, or even a whole album’s worth. She did just that in 2024 with her debut, Glorious. Whether you know her for her romcoms opposite Matthew McConaughey, her Oscar-nominated performance in Almost Famous, or one of the handful of Kate Hudson classics, Hudson has been defined, purposefully, by her career on the big screen. For those who are only mildly familiar with her, it may come as a surprise that she produced an album at all.

Though if you’ve paid very close attention, you may have noticed that a couple of her roles have involved her breaking into song. She was one of the big names to star on Glee in its heyday, naturally providing her singing talents to that series. In the Rob Marshall-directed musical Nine, she performed the original piece “Cinema Italiano”. Hudson also starred and sang in the 2021 musical, Music. Still, it’s far more usual for a singer to jump into acting rather than an actor to make the switch to singing, but Kate Hudson has pulled it off.

Kate Hudson Felt Like This Was The Right Time To Release An Album

She Found Releasing An Album A Scarier Prospect Than Acting

There was really no inciting incident for Kate Hudson to release Glorious, her 12-song studio album; she just decided that now was the right time (via Vulture). In fact, she’s been writing songs her entire life, as she says about how long she’s been doing it (via CBS),

“Really poorly, my whole life! I guess I wasn’t ready for it until now.”

Self-deprecation aside, music has clearly been a part of her life for a long time. Her birth father, Bill Hudson, was a vocalist for The Hudson Brothers, an Oregon-based garage band. Though she doesn’t have much of a relationship with her estranged father, there is no doubt she inherited some of those musical genes (via People). Despite her immense success, Hudson had a bit of trepidation when releasing her album. She said,

“I’ve got really tough skin. I can handle sᴀssy headlines and I can take the noise out of things when it comes to acting, fashion, or whatever else. But when it comes to your own words, your love of art, and putting yourself out there, it’s scary and it hurts. I wasn’t ready for that yet. I’ve always said this: If I’m going to do music, I love it too much to not honor it properly. I don’t want to just come in, have a ton of writers, and not treat it with the respect that I see for this modality of art. I have to live in it and do it properly. It just wasn’t the time. Frankly, I didn’t choose to have the time.”

Not only did Hudson not necessarily plan on releasing her album at a specific time, but she also did not really have any specific intention when she was putting together the album. She loves to sing and had songs she thought would be appropriate. It’s a pretty bold method of album writing, just dumping what you know onto a CD and putting it out for the world. Of course, it’s hard not to see some throughlines, and Hudson has mentioned some unifying themes,

“One of the reasons I liked the album тιтle, Glorious, is because it’s very reflective. It’s all of these love stories in my life, including with my children. One song is actually a third-person reflection. I won’t say which song, because then it’ll change the song for everybody, but it’s about how one of my partners saw me. I was speaking from his point of view. I wanted to be more of an open channel. It’s sort of like a life well loved in the good, the bad, and the ugly. Even a one-night stand with somebody is glorious, too. So I don’t think there’s any narrative that feels like it’s from the beginning, middle, and end.”

This album isn’t an ode to someone or to mark a specific time in her life; it’s a collection of things she finds worthwhile to sing about, and that alone is an excellent reason to release an album.

Glorious Released On May 17, 2024

There Is A Standard And A Deluxe Version

Glorious was released on May 17, 2024, by HK Music and Virgin Music Group. It was produced by Danny Fujikawa, Linda Perry, and Johan Carlsson and features 12 tracks on the standard edition. The deluxe edition includes two more singles. Hudson is notably credited as a writer on every song. The album did well for itself, debuting on five album charts (via Billboard). For US Heatseekers Albums, it reached 3; 41 on US Independent Albums; 10 on US Top Album Sales; and 19 on US Vinyl Albums.

Most of the songs on the album were written over a two-week period, and the album could have been even longer if Hudson wanted it to be (via Billboard),

“It was literally like opening a channel. At one point, we wrote three songs in a day and Linda’s like, ‘I think we need to stop. I think we have two albums.’ We could have written forever.”

It’s a solid enough debut for a new singer and suggests that she has enough juice to release another album soon if she is so inclined.

“Right On Time” Is About Hudson’s Mother

Goldie Hawn Did Not Know Her Daughter Was Making The Song About Her

Kate Hudson’s mother, Academy Award-winner Goldie Hawn, is the subject of a song on Glorious: “Right on Time”. The 13th song on the deluxe edition of the album, “Right on Time,” is an ode to Hudson’s mother. Hudson did not tell her mother about the song when she played it for her, saying (via NBC),

“…at first, she was confused. She was like, ‘Is that about me?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, my God! Then she played it again and listened to it and got very emotional.”

The song includes the lyrics, “Mommy had a tongue that spoke the best of lines“, a reference to her mother’s acting career, speaking lines in scripts. Another line, “And dancing feet always called her name“, is a reference to her early days as a ballet dancer (via HelloMagazine). There’s another memorable line in the song, “She drove a hundred miles to Baltimore / In a busted Caddy with holes in the floor.” When asked if that line was true, Hudson said (via LATimes),

“Oh, for sure. She used to wrap her feet because she had all these holes in the bottom of the Cadillac — it was her dad’s car — and so she wrapped her feet while she drove to dance class. When she’d get there, she’d have to thaw them out in warm water because they were frozen.”

Hudson said about writing a song about her mother,

“As a daughter, I think we’re supposed to carry on the stories of our parents. And her story is amazing — how wild her stardom was for this little girl who came from a duplex house in Takoma Park, Md.”

It’s a lovely and catchy song, and a sweet ode to a woman who has clearly meant a lot in Hudson’s life.

What’s Next For Glorious And Kate Hudson

Hudson Is Taking Her Album On A Limited Tour

Kate Hudson will have a limited tour run for Glorious, with only three dates in 2025, all in May. The first is on May 20, at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA; the second is on May 22 at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA; and the third is at BottleRock Napa Valley in Napa, CA. Tickets can be purchased at KateHudson.com/tour. While Kate Hudson has not said anything about a second album, she definitely has more songs in her head, and while it probably won’t be right away, fans can expect another album eventually.