- I always say like I went to YouTube University,
'cause it felt like those were just my people.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Tori Kelly and today I'm going
to be reminiscing about all my firsts with Elle.
I think I was six years old
when I had my first proper onstage,
in front of strangers type of performance.
I did these competitions as a kid.
It was kind of a spinoff of "Star Search,"
which I eventually did as well.
When I was about six years old,
I was really into just performing.
I always loved it.
I remember not being able to move very well.
I'd just kind of be frozen in one place,
and just really focus on the vocals,
and I kind of did a sway sometimes.
The one that's really ingrained in my mind,
I was eight years old.
It was in Las Vegas and it was this huge deal
because first place got a trophy
that was legit like eight feet tall.
For that performance, I sang "Vision of Love"
by Mariah Carey.
I worked on my performing,
and kind of walked around the stage a bit,
and I actually won that show.
So I still have that trophy.
It's in my studio.
I love looking at that trophy
'cause I think it just reminds me of where I came from
and the hard work that I put in, even as a kid.
And I have it right next to my Grammy.
So the first film
that I remember seeing was probably "Pocahontas."
I've always been obsessed with Pocahontas.
That era of Disney, just like being a nineties kid,
it was just so many great movies at that time.
So those were definitely my earliest memories
of just watching movies as a kid.
First big break, my first experience
with even the word viral was a cover
of "Thinkin Bout You" by Frank Ocean.
I posted on YouTube.
I was starting to get recognized,
and I think the video even ended up on "World Star,"
and it took on a whole life of its own.
That was a pretty trippy turning point I would say
in my career.
My first celebrity encounter was actually
at age 12 with Mary J Blige.
It sounds crazy to say, but we were signed
to the same record label at the time.
They essentially invited me to her concert,
and I remember just feeling like she was so seasoned
and such a professional.
She just had this great presence.
She got on stage and I, this little 12 year old
was just so in awe of her as a performer.
Still I mean, to this day, she's just I think one
of the greatest.
So the first time I heard my song on the radio was
for my song "Nobody Love,"
and I believe I was in San Diego like visiting some friends.
It was just the craziest feeling to sit in the car,
and it just randomly is on.
That was just so surreal.
First music video I would say was for "Dear No one."
Gosh, I was probably like 19 for that.
It was a pretty easy day.
I mean, I just remember the camera following me
around the city.
There's a mystery guy floating throughout the video.
You never see his face.
I'm following him around the city,
and I'm singing, you know,
"Dear no one, this is your love song."
Talking about like, when the time is right,
we'll be together sort of thing.
And at the end, he sort of vanishes,
as if to say, you know, he never really existed.
It was a fun video.
I liked the whole storyline of it and the plot twist.
I was having a blast, so it was fun.
My first big splurge was definitely my first car,
which was a Lexus IS 250.
Oh my gosh, I loved that car so much.
First award show performance,
I'm pretty sure would've been the Billboard Awards in 2015.
It was supposed to be like me and a guitar,
and then like a little band set up behind me,
and last minute the team was like, you know what?
We think it should just be you and a guitar.
Like they sound great but we, you know, think it would just
be like this cool special moment if it's just you up there.
And I was like, okay, cool, I'm down.
And it ended up being a really cool moment compared
to, you know, most award shows.
There's like big production and lights,
and dancers and boom boom, which is all super fun.
But at the time it was cool to sort of contrast
that with just me and my guitar.
So I just remember walking away from
that performance feeling really good about it.
First time getting recognized in public,
that's a really hard one.
I can't think of the exact first time.
Once I got into the like YouTube scene,
and started posting more videos, covers, all of that,
I hung out with a crew that was also doing the same thing.
I always say like I went to YouTube University
'cause it felt like those were just my people,
and we would always hang out,
and do jam sessions and make covers together.
So we'd be in a group and if we would go to Disneyland
or be at the mall or something, we would just stand out
because you know, if you recognize one of us,
you look over,
and it's like, oh, that's so-and-so and da da da.
So those are some of my early memories
of just getting recognized.
It just felt different.
I was like, oh this whole, like me posting covers on YouTube
and me posting originals, you're just in your room
or you're just in a house filming something.
It's weird for that to translate like on the street.
First time going back to brunette,
'cause I'm a natural brunette,
but then I went blonde when I was about 18.
And it was like right out of high school.
I was like, I'm gonna be different and dye my hair.
Going blonde was like a big change.
It felt super fun.
And then my hair just decided to just reject it.
It was like, no, that's not good for your hair.
And it completely fried it.
And so I went back to brunette,
probably not too long after that.
I think I was like 19 or 20,
and then I very quickly went blonde again.
But this time did it the right way,
and made sure, you know, we took our time with it,
and it was healthy and I had fun being a blonde, you know?
But I also love being a brunette.
That's where I'm at now.
It was back to my roots.
First time picking up a musical instrument, I was 15.
I want to say it was the drums actually.
My brother got a drum set for his birthday or something,
and he's a little bit younger than me,
but he would never play it.
And so I was homeschooled.
He was not.
So when he would go to school I would just sneak
into his room and put Paramore on and just like go
to town on the drums and it was so fun
'cause I would like sing along.
I would work on my vocals when I'd be drumming,
and I just fell in love.
But then I very quickly realized it's kind of hard
to write songs on the drums.
I then, you know, shifted over to guitar.
But I always feel like the drummer feel
or just that percussive feel was something
that really quickly made its way into the way
that I play guitar.
I always like to, you know, make people feel
like there's a whole band with me while I'm playing,
even if there's not.
My first red carpet appearance was for the ACMs actually,
which is kind of wild.
But I was actually invited to introduce Jewel, who I love.
I mean red carpets even still are just kind of,
it's like a little chaotic and there's people yelling
at you and cameras flashing everywhere,
and so, you know, the first time doing it can
be a little wild.
The first time I felt like I had made it probably
when I put out my debut album because up until that point,
I was definitely doing stuff and you know doing shows,
and getting recognized, which was amazing.
I think getting to really just put my stamp on music,
and be like, hey, this is my debut album,
and feel really good about it,
it was such a cool moment for me.
I just remember crying a lot, like on the release day.
To finally be able to say
I have an album was really special.
First time I won a Grammy I still get giddy about it.
It was for my gospel album,
and a song also off of that album.
I didn't even think about awards
or any sort of extra things to come from that.
I was like, I just want to put this out
because I'm going through a lot right now,
and my faith is super important to me.
It was just so special and so surreal
for it to get recognized for that project.
I don't even remember what I said during the speech
because I was just freaking out the whole time.
Going down memory lane, so crazy.
Feeling very nostalgic right now and grateful.
Thank you so much Elle for having me.
Check out "Missin You," out everywhere right now.