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Tori Kelly on embracing Y2K pop and R&B, working with LESSERAFIM's Chaewon, the 'Sing' franchise & more

Tori Kelly on embracing Y2K pop and R&B, working with LESSERAFIM's Chaewon, the 'Sing' franchise & more

Estimated: 7 mins  reading

Tori Kelly has solidified herself as one of music's brightest stars, captivating audiences with her powerful voice and vibrant spirit. Since her rise in the 2010s, she’s garnered Platinum certifications and amassed hundreds of millions of streams, collaborating with industry giants like Justin Bieber and Jon Batiste. Now, with her first full-length album on Epic Records, TORI., the two-time Grammy winner delves deep into her musical influences, blending Y2K-era pop and R&B with contemporary flair, all while showcasing her unmatched vocal versatility.

TORI. marks Kelly's artistic evolution, building on the promise of her 2023 EP tori and expanding her sonic palette with big choruses, throwback beats, and heartfelt lyrics. This album is a definitive statement of who she is as an artist, combining the emotional depth of her earlier work with a fresh, upbeat sound that reflects her love for the late-'90s and early-2000s. Bandwagon hung out with Tori to find out more about her new album and also her thoughts on her Asian leg of her tour.

Your new album, TORI., blends influences from the late-’90s and early-2000s with your signature style. What inspired you to explore these sounds, and how do they reflect your growth as an artist?

This is the era that I grew up in, the early 2000s. We're very inspired by Craig David, Destiny's Child, Timbaland, Aaliyah, they are very influential. So all of the sounds you'll hear on the album and also a little sprinkles of what people are used to hearing from me, maybe the more like stripped down acoustic elements. So yeah, that is where the inspiration came from, with me just loving that era of music and wanting to bring that out on this album.

You’ve collaborated with a diverse range of artists in your newest album TORI., from Kim Chaewon to Jon Bellion. How have these collaborations influenced your music in this new release?

So Jon Bellion has done the whole project with me, which has been so fun. He really helped me with bringing out all these different sounds that I have been wanting to express in an authentic way previously but I just haven't had the right type of music yet to be able to do this sort of aesthetic, and moving a lot more on stage and just having a little more fun. So songs like 'Spruce', were so fun to make because we were just in the studio being so silly and I was like, I want a song that can be like what I play when getting ready to go out, or just a fun song you can play with your girlfriends so that's what we made.

Whilst we were making it, we thought this could be a really cool song to have a feature, maybe it can be K-pop feature because I really love K-pop. And for so long I feel that a lot of K-pop stars have covered my songs and things like that, so I would love to collaborate with one. And we reached out to LE SSERAFIM and Chaewon was actually down to hop on the song. So it happened really fast, she was so super, really easy, and she was just down do it. I had an idea that maybe she could say something in Korean on the bridge, and little details like that were really cute, so hopefully we can perform it live together because we still haven't met yet.

With TORI. being your first full-length album since Inspired by True Events, were there moments in your personal life that happened over the past few years that influenced the themes and sounds of this album?

The main thing I would say if you listened to Inspired by True EventsI only had a Christmas album after that, so maybe that doesn't count because COVID happened. But, yeah, Inspired by True Events was very much, like, very intimate, very personal, a lot of heavier lyrics. And I think, because I was just going through so much in my personal life that once those songs came out, I was able to heal from all of that, and I found myself in a really happy place. I was very much in love and feeling so confident and free, and so I think that's really where all these songs came from. It was just me wanting to express all of that, and kind of update people on where I am. I really wanted to sing big songs you can belt out in your car and, you know, maybe make you feel like you can dance a little bit, and just feel more confident overall. That's how these songs make me feel, so I just wanted to hopefully make other people feel that way, too. 

You often speak about the importance of authenticity in your music. How do you stay authentic in an industry that often pushes for commercial success?

I think my faith is a big part of, how I stay grounded and connected to reality, I guess. Because I think in this industry, it is very easy to get caught up in the celebrity of it all, or the fame, and things can start getting kind of fuzzy - I see it happen all the time. For me, it's been my family and the people that are close to me, just keeping me humble and grounded. I think that's really important, just to try not to get too carried away with all of this, because the reality is, with what I do, it's so easy to have all of it be about yourself, you know? And, that's literally what people are putting you up on, they're putting you up on a pedestal and kind of making it about you, so I think my challenge in that position is I always want to try and flip it and, like, make it about other people. That's the way that I find the most joy. If it's all about myself, then it can feel really heavy, and it can start to get dark.

 
 
 
 
 
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Touring can be physically and emotionally demanding. What are some rituals or routines you follow to stay grounded and maintain your well-being while on the road?

I actually love touring. It's funny because I don't know if this is a rare thing. I know a lot of artists who really love touring, and then a lot of artists who get so exhausted on tour. I'm one of the artists who gets energy on tour, and I love it. I mean, I do have to protect my health, and I'm an introvert as well, so you're around a lot of people, but then I also find time to kind of go hide and be alone. I think that helps a lot. And just taking care of my voice helps a lot, because I think that can create a lot of stress. Once your voice starts getting tired, and you're like, oh my gosh, I still have all of these shows. I think that's what creates the stress of, okay, maybe I don't really like touring, but if I'm keeping my voice healthy, then I feel like I can do anything. I really love it. I love traveling, too, so getting to see new places is really great. 

You’ve been a part of the Sing movie franchise, lending your voice to the character of Meena. How does your approach to voice acting differ from performing live on stage or recording music?

It's very different from being on stage and performing, but it's very similar to being in the studio recording an album, because it doesn't have to be one take. It's not live. So it feels a lot like that, especially with a movie like Sing, where I'm literally singing songs. That part, I was used to. But the voice acting part, it was pretty similar, because you have the director, who's kind of like the producer, like the producer that would be in the music studio. And so you're collaborating, and he'll be like, okay, say this line maybe 3 different ways. And so you give him the same line over and over again. It feels a little funny at first, but once you get into it, it's like, oh, this is kind of like trying different things with my voice also.

Plus, you don't have to worry about what you look like. You can just show up in sweats and it's fine. I really enjoy it. That's one of the coolest things I've ever done in my career. And I hope that they keep making those movies forever. They're doing Sing 3, so I'm like, yeah! Hopefully we'll get to see Meena again and hopefully they'll stop the slander of Meena, because she's a perfect character. When I saw everyone hating on Meena, I was like, okay, it's okay. Meena will get her revenge somehow.