The young singer/songwriter's first full-length to arrive under major label, 'Unbreakable Smile', has debuted at No. 2 on Billboard 200.
- Jul 6, 2015
AceShowbiz - Young newcomer Tori Kelly is ready to take over the music industry. Born to musician parents, the 22-year-old singer has been dreaming to be a professional musician since she was a kid. She competed in multiple talent shows including "American Idol" before she started gaining popularity through YouTube.
She posted on the video-sharing site her covers of hit songs like Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" and Frank Ocean's "Thinking About You". Not only did she earn herself fans with the covers, but she also drew the attention of Scooter Braun, who has been managing big names like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
Thanks in large part to Braun who introduced her to the bosses of Capital Records, Kelly was eventually signed to the label and released her major label debut album in June 2015. Titled "Unbreakable Smile", the set debuted at No. 2 on this week's Billboard 200 with around 75,000 equivalent units.
"Unbreakable Smile" was based on the first song of the same name Kelly wrote for the album, she explained to Vibe. "I think I wanted to name the album that, because it seemed like that was just the theme of that chapter in my life, and just the theme of all the songs put together," she continued.
"When I was writing that song in particular, I was just holding in so many feelings for a while; I wasn't saying them. I think when I finally did write that song, it just unlocked a whole other layer of me as an artist, and me as a songwriter. I just felt so much more confident about my music. So I just wanted that to be the overall message: that I don't have a breakable smile. And I wanted people to be able to take away something from that," she added.
