Happily Victorious Live by Eunice U- The Album Review

Happily Victorious Live is the debut album release from International gospel recording artist Eunice U recorded at the Tabernacle of Worship Church of All Nations, St Louis MO. After the successful release of the lead single, ‘Ogheneme’ (My God) and launch celebration, Happily Victorious Live is steadily making its way into the hearts and lives of audiences around the world with what looks like a well- thought out media coverage plan and strategy.

The album recorded in 2016, kicks off with a formal introduction of Eunice followed by a grand instrumental introduction not dissimilar to the format regularly used by William McDowell at the beginning of his albums and then progresses swiftly to the fast-tempo track “Greater in me” and the slower “Emmanuel (God with us)”

What immediately catches your attention is the tone of Eunice’s voice (a strong, rich alto with range which she displays when she sings softly) which she wields with authority and passion apparently for the One she sings about. Happily Victorious Live though obviously geared towards congregational worship and praise with songs like ‘Surrender My Heart’ and the- not one, not two but- 3 part extended worship medleys, is quite an interesting mixed bag which would sit quite nicely in the gospel, soul and R n B sections with songs like ‘Victorious’ (which even features some rap from Mark Ant), Perfect It’, ‘Wonder God’ and ‘Your Goodness’. The bass licks evident throughout the project are very reminiscent of Fred Hammond’s work and the vocals sound like a cross between Cece Winans and Tasha Cobbs- Leonard.

Eunice is also not afraid to integrate sounds from the ‘Motherland’ as it were, with afro-beat influenced songs like lead single ‘Ogheneme’ (My God) and ‘God is good’, The highly infectious rhythm and energy emanating from these songs would have you bopping your head at the very least- more likely, turning your living room space into a dance floor! You can tell Eunice is quite in her element on these tracks as you can hear her lead the audience with such confidence that demonstrates years of experience. 

This review would be incomplete without a special nod to the production team who obviously worked hard to present to the gospel audience, a project of high quality such as this. In my opinion, the only slight let down would be the background vocals, which though was generally very good, in some songs, didn’t match up to this quality.

All in all, Happily Victorious Live is a great project containing something for every gospel-loving body whether you are looking for material to which you can lock yourself in your room, face flat on the floor in worship or something groovy you would like playing in your car with the rooftop down (or maybe just windows, if you don’t own a convertible!). Some might say this might very well work against the project being that one then finds it difficult to categorize. But considering that this is a digital/streaming world we live in, I hardly think this matters in the least.

Reviewed and Written by Tosé

Happily Victorious Live is now available on iTunes and every other digital platform