Glo Up / Glow Up

About

Glo Up or Glow Up is an internet slang term for gaining confidence, appearance and style from one time period to another and is frequently used in the context of puberty. Glo Up photos are frequently posted in a type of "before and after" template with an old photograph juxtaposing a newer, more stylish one. The term is synonymous with "ugly duckling syndrome," meaning to come into one's own.

Origin

The term "Glo Up" was coined by rapper Chief Keef in the song "Gotta Glo Up One Day," which was officially released on August 15th, 2013.^[1] In the song, Chief Keef raps about woman who needs mature as well as his own rise to wealth. The following day, YouTuber ^[2] Body uploaded the song, where it received more than 160,000 views in four and half years.

Spread

On September 24th, 2014, Urban Dictionary ^[3] user BEEZUSChrist defined "GLO" as "When one is to "GLO" or "GLO'd Up" his confidence, swagg and demeanor are so hiehtened they cannot be changed by negativity. GLO can only be defined as your swag." The post (shown below) received more than 850 upvotes in three and a half years.

On February 15th, 2015, Redditor ^[4] bennysfromheaven posted "What does the term 'Glo up' mean? in the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit.

Several months later, YouTuber^[7] Nathan Zed posted a video entitled "WHAT IS A GLO UP?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 639,000 views.

Two years later, on May 23rd, 2017, rapper Meek Mill uploaded the video for his song "Glow Up."^[6] The post (shown below, right) received more than 7.1 million views in less than one year.

On October 22nd, 2017, Twitter ^[5] user @caitlincrowley_ tweeted, "Freshman to senior year, does this count as a glo up???" Below the caption, they posted a picture on a date as a freshman and kissing a woman in front a fountain their senior year. The post (shown below, left) received more than 35,000 retweets and 137,000 likes.

The post inspired other LGBTQ people to post their own glo ups (examples below, center and right). That week, Twitter^[8] published a Moments page about the glo up.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References