The Nigerian gospel music industry has, over the years, become a veritable site of creativity, inventiveness and innovation. This is seen in the remarkable and artful incorporation by contemporary gospel singers, of hitherto forbidden cultural artifacts into their artistic compositions. In line with this, the tendency of incorporating glossolalia (speaking in tongues) in the lyrical text and performance of gospel songs is notable, particularly among popular Pentecostal musicians. This paper explores the structure and artistic values of this spiritual component (glossolalia) in selected pieces by Nigerian Pentecostal singers. It argues that, glossolalia in gospel music composition and performance is more an instrument of song spiritualization than it is an aesthetic feature. This is in line with the fact that the phenomenon primarily helps the artist to assert his Pentecostal identity. From an aesthetical view point, the practice of glossolalia contributes to the “barbarization” of gospel music composition and performance. The practice visibly has potential of distorting the message of songs given the fact that it is typically “esoteric-like”, sacred and secret in nature. Further, glossolalia is in general, largely unintelligible/ meaningless to the majority of audiences who humanly receive the song.