In GDScript, there exists the global preload method. It loads resources as early as possible to front-load the “loading” operations and avoid loading resources while in the middle of performance-sensitive code.

Its counterpart, the load method, loads a resource only when it reaches the load statement. That is, it will load a resource in-place which can cause slowdowns when it occurs in the middle of sensitive processes. The load() function is also an alias for ResourceLoader.load(path) which is accessible to all scripting languages.

From the docs: https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/best_practices/logic_preferences.html