By Manal Museitef |Managing Editor|
After years of being a YouTube sensation with over 55 million views, Tori Kelly has finally broke through the scene with her new EP entitled Foreword. Since the release of the five-track CD on Oct. 22, Kelly has kicked off her tour in Los Angeles and Anaheim.
Kelly has developed a large fan base from her popularity online. She began singing covers on YouTube and eventually began writing her own songs and playing the guitar. One of her most popular videos, what you can say peaked her fame was her cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin’ Bout You,” where she played the acoustic guitar with friend and beatboxer Angie.
I attended her Anaheim show on Oct. 29 at the House of Blues and was truly blown away at Kelly’s amazingly captivating voice. Kelly opened the show with the very powerful and inspiring song, “Rocket.”
This song set the mood for the night with uplifting and encouraging lyrics like, “If I could build a rocket I would//If this bed grew some wings then what could I not do?” The crowd was completely receptive of Kelly’s soulful sound and roared with excitement every time Kelly hit a high note, which was quite often.
One of the main reasons for her great successes are her inspiring lyrics and point to encourage her fans to love themselves and be kind. She has even started a spin on Drake’s motto, “No new friends,” and motivates, “All new friends.”
Kelly later, shared the story behind, the cheerful, “Daydream,” where she sings, “Don’t quit your daydream// Who you want to be is only up to you.” She said, “There’s always gonna be those people telling you that you can’t do something, so hopefully this will keep you moving forward.”
It is extremely impressive to see a young and talented artist from the YouTube community come to be where she is at now.
Kelly continued throughout the night with other original songs, and even some of her most popular covers. She sang snippets from, “Say My Name,” and “Thinkin’ Bout You.”
At the end of the show Kelly left the crowd with the note to make random acts of kindness and hashtag them #payitFOREWORD.
Since her growth from a star on YouTube, Kelly has become a comet of inspiration and encouragement to fans everywhere.
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