Tori Kelly is the new kid on the block all set to put her name on the world map. She may not be a well-known name on your playlist, but she is surely in the spotlight now with her nomination in the Best New Artist category at this year’s Grammy Awards.

Victoria Loren “Tori” Kelly was born on 14 December 1992 to a Puerto Rican-Jamaican father and an Irish-German mother in Wildomar, California. With a cocktail of cultures, one thing that stood out in her life was her love for music, which was encouraged by her parents who listened to a variety of music. Her father sang and played bass, while her mother was proficient on keyboards and saxophone. She grew up listening to gospel and was influenced by pop and R&B acts such as Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott.

Kelly had always dreamt of being a professional musician since she was very young. In 2004, she participated on America’s Most Talented Kids, singing Christina Aguilera’s Keep On Singin’ My Song and won, beating country singer Hunter Hayes. She made a second appearance on the show in the Tournament of Champions, but lost to rock musician Antonio Pontarelli. At 12, she was offered a record deal by Geffen Records, which was a turning point for her. But sadly she and the label parted ways before she could release any material.

In 2007, when she was around 15 years old, she began posting videos on YouTube. Her first upload was a cover of Go Tell It On The Mountain. Later, she duetted with a fellow YouTuber on Frank Ocean’s Thinkin’ About You. This gave her a bit of more recognition.

Kelly tried her hand at the reality show American Idol, and reached just short of the top 24. During this time, she took lessons in guitar, piano, drums and keyboard and also found time to compose and record original songs on her own personal computer. Within a short span of time her music had reached a wide audience; she began sharing her performances through YouTube; her page crossed 700,000 subscribers.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Tori Kelly appeared first on The Teenager Today.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC, Rs 395

This is the 22nd installment of the best-selling series of Grammy nominees. This set features 21 hits from Grammy-nominated superstars and the hottest emerging talent. The line-up might include a few toppers which you might chill out with to a few not-so-happening tracks by new artists, but it’s worth listening to all for who knows where these same artists would be in a few years’ time. By now you already know who won, but let’s rundown the ones who matter.

Uptown Funk, Blank Space, Thinking Out Loud and Lips Are Moving represent the best in pop music from artists like Mark Ronson, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor who all won in their respective categories.

Wiz Khalifa rap on See You Again is impressive on this beautiful tribute to the late Paul Walker. Can’t Feel My Face is the best dance song of the year and The Weeknd certainly deserves a pat on the back for bringing such a heavy groove to it. With his soft vocals, James Bay had stiff competition from his peers in Best New Artist, but sadly lost out even though his song Hold Back The River is the most uplifting song playing on the channels now. His album has good moments that fit well in the sentis category. Girl Crush by Little Big Town is what it says and is a pretty neat piece to rewind to. Newcomer to the industry Sam Hunt’s Take Your Time is a topper and has very infectious lyrics to go with it.

The other artists that make an appearance on this CD include Alabama Shakes, Maroon 5, Florence + The Machine, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Stapleton, Tori Kelly, Courtney Barnett, Carrie Underwood, Cam, Lee Ann Womack and Keith Urban.

This compilation brings together the best in the music industry from all music labels, but it would be wise to release this type of a compilation a month before the awards ceremony so that those who want a copy can lay their hands on it before the awards are announced. As for this CD, the release was three days before the 58th Grammy Awards. Production or copyright issues, music lovers should get the release in their hands early, that’s the only way to keep everyone guessing which artist is going to take the Grammy home in each of the main categories.

The post Grammy Nominees 2016: Various Artists appeared first on The Teenager Today.