From YouTube to the world stage: Tori Kelly’s path to success
Grammy award-winning artist Tori Kelly has had a seemingly meteoric rise to fame, but this vocalist has been chipping her way into the elite rungs of music for over a decade. At 27-years-old, Tori has amassed a robust YouTube and internet following, appeared on American Idol and Sesame Street, starred as a lead cast member in Sing and released three studio albums. Not to mention her string of awards.
Born in 1992 and growing up in California, Victoria ‘Tori’ Kelly credits her parents and Christian upbringing for her love of music. In 2003, Tori entered Star Search, a US entertainment competition show that looked for talent in categories including comedy, dance, spokesmodelling and, of course, singing. The then 10-year-old entered as a junior singer but lost to Tiffany Evans.
Watch Tori Kelly’s performance on Star Search:
Notable other celebrities to have competed in the show across other seasons include Justin Timberlake (Justin Randall at the time), Alanis Morissette, Tinashe, Britney Spears and Usher.
The following year, she competed in America’s Most Talented Kids and won with her performance of Christina Aguilera’s ‘Keep On Singin’ My Song’.
She soon after landed a record deal with Interscope Records, but the label never released any of her music.
According to The Guardian, the teenager was “relieved” when her contract came to an end.
“I went to the [label] office and there were music videos playing with female singers wearing hardly any clothes and, as a 13-year-old, I was confused because it didn’t feel right. I want to send a message to people that they don’t have to do that,” she told the publication.
Check out Tori Kelly’s performance on America’s Most Talented Kids:
In 2010, continuing her television singing competition career, she auditioned for the ninth season of American Idol where she was close to making it to the Top 24.
Her iconic audition of John Mayer’s ‘Gravity’ got a yes from three out of the four judges, with the notoriously sour Simon Cowell describing her voice as “almost annoying”.
See Tori Kelly’s American Idol audition:
Alas, this mere road bump didn’t stop her from chasing her dream. By this point in time, the 16-year-old had been posting videos to YouTube for three years, from singing eisteddfod performances to covers and originals.
Her self-produced videos began amassing a dedicated following that eventually went viral in 2012 with her cover of Frank Ocean’s ‘Thinkin’ ‘Bout You’.
Listen to Tori Kelly’s viral Frank Ocean cover:
It was this video that caught the attention of Scooter Braun, who manages the likes of Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kanye West and Ariana Grande.
On the topic of signing the singer, Braun told The Guardian, “She was on Interscope and they never put out one song of hers. This girl had every knock-down – people said to me: ‘She’s been around for years and never made it.’ I said: ‘Are you kidding?’
“You have to be a storyteller. With Justin [Bieber], I needed a story to tell, with Ariana [Grande], I needed a story to tell. With Tori, the story is that she’s very authentic. She’s one of the best singer-songwriters on the planet, and she’s good and warm and talented and extraordinary,” he said.
By 2013, she had inked a deal with Capitol Records and began working towards her debut album, Unbreakable Smile.
Her first full-length album was released on June 23rd, 2015 and debuted in the number two spot on the Billboard 200. The body of work was executively produced by Max Martin, the mastermind behind hits such as Britney Spears’ ‘… Baby One More Time’, The Veronicas’ ‘4ever’ and Pink’s ‘U + Ur Hand’ and also featured the track ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ with Ed Sheeran.
Check out ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ by Tori Kelly ft. Ed Sheeran:
It was this pop album that earned her her first Grammy nomination as Best New Artist, with Tori performing at the 58th Grammy Awards alongside James Bay in 2016.
Following her debut album’s success, Tori teamed up with Kirk Franklin to write a gospel track that reflected her Christian roots.
“My faith is definitely something I was introduced to as a kid, and I grew up believing in God and believing in Jesus, and that being my foundation. As I got older, I really took it on as my own,” Tori told Columbus Underground.
“It wasn’t this thing that was just a routine, but an actual relationship that I had with God. It really just became my whole life. So, going into music, it was – and even still is – the lens I see the world through. It’s just a part of who I am at this point – it’s my identity.”
What was originally planned to be one track, ended up being an album’s worth of songs and created her second album, Hiding Place.
“I started out with that idea, putting a song or two on [my next album], and everyone on my team really liked the idea and put me in the studio with Kirk Franklin. And then we just hit it off, and it went from this small, one-song idea to turning into this full-on album,” she told Forbes.
Listen to ‘Never Alone’ by Tori Kelly:
Her genre-crossing paid off when we was nominated at the 2019 Grammys for Best Gospel Album and Best Gospel Performance/Song for her track ‘Never Alone’. She swept the night, taking home both accolades which now sit on the speakers in her home studio.
“I think coming back with this gospel album – it was just such a huge passion of mine, and something that was just out of left field for a lot of people. So, the fact that, you know, I didn’t have a lot of expectations for it – it was just, ‘This is what I believe in, and I really want to put this out and I hope it inspires people.’ But not thinking, ‘I’m going to put this out so it can win Grammys.
“The fact that it did get recognised was almost, like, ‘Oh, wow! What a strange thing, when I do something that I’m passionate about and it gets rewarded with a Grammy?’ It was awesome,” she told Columbus Underground.
Watch Tori Kelly’s Grammy acceptance speech:
Around this time in Tori’s life came a lot of personal chaos, from her parents separating and her grandfather passing away. But at the same time, she got married and had major career successes.
These events motivated Hiding Places but also manifested her third album Inspired By True Events (2019) which she wrote at the same time as her gospel release.
Working alongside Jimmy Napes (Sam Smith, Rita Ora), Tori’s third studio album returned to her original pop sound, however this time with more personal revealing lyrics.
“Honestly I wasn’t thinking a lot about the production on this album or where I wanted to go sonically. It’s so about the stories and the lyrics on this album,” Tori told Forbes.
“They call this my ‘grown up album.’ I think every artist probably goes through that feeling of, ‘Hey I need to just say some things, whether or not it makes sense. This is my story. This is what needs to come out.’ Hopefully people connect with the songs and can relate to them. I’m being really honest on this album,” she continued.
Check out ‘Confetti’ by Tori Kelly:
When Tori was 18, she penned her track ‘Confetti’, which begins with the lyrics, “I gotta keep myself in check sometimes / Cause I tend to dream real big sometimes / The fancy outfits and the sparkly awards / My name in lights, the people lined up at the doors / But I gotta remember to take it one step at a time.”
Nearly a decade since originally writing those words, Tori Kelly has achieved her big dreams of fancy outfits and sparkly awards. But she remains as humble and grounded, clearly prioritising her creative outlet over accolades and chart numbers.
This article was originally published by Don’t Bore Us.