Mario Returns With New Album ‘Glad You Came’

Since his breakout in the 2000s as a singer, Mario has worked to establish his name outside the music world through acting and other entertainment ventures. Now, the R&B crooner is returning to music for Glad You Came, his first new album in six years and a reintroduction of the artist more than two decades after his debut.

Glad You Came follows his 2020 EP Closer to Mars and serves as a homecoming of sorts for the Grammy-nominated singer as he delivers many of the classic R&B sounds that some feel have been missing from music in recent years. To bring the project to life, he recruited hit-making producers like James Fauntleroy, Bnyx, and Chiiild to create a unique body of work celebrating all of Mario’s artistry.

“This, mentally, has been in the making for a long time,” the singer told Stephen A. Smith of the album. “I feel like we made a project that’s very imaginative, it’s very confident, it’s very sexy, it’s very classic. It preserves the art form of R&B. It’s inspired by so many different types of music that I grew up listening to.”

“You’re really getting a full spectrum of who Mario is as a creative,” he added.

Mario drew on a variety of life experiences for inspiration when putting the album together.

“My successes and failures in the department of love and my imagination are what helped me to create this body of work,” he told Billboard. “Being able to create new textures and ways to invite intimacy and imagination back into R&B, Glad You Came embodies the very essence of the quality of classic R&B and retro-futuristic sound that can be played in any space.”

In January, Mario will embark on a countrywide tour opening for Mary J. Blige on her For My Fans Tour. It all starts Jan. 30 in Greensboro and wraps up April 17 in Philadelphia.