Tori Kelly Is Proving a Pop Star and a Rock Star Can Exist Simultaneously
You know the scene. A glitzy award show slows down to let "real music" have a moment as a vocal powerhouse enters the stage to belt out an intense, gorgeous ballad that gets everyone swaying in their seats and rushing to give a standing ovation. The VMAs almost always have them: Adele had her U.S. breakout ballad moment with herself and a piano player for "Someone Like You" in 2011, Frank Ocean crooned out "Thinkin Bout You" solo in a front of a burning brush scene in 2012; then last year, Sam Smith stood at a microphone as he crooned "Stay With Me" alongside a piano-man.
This year's VMA vocalist standout was poised to be Tori Kelly, whose stripped-down-turned-arena-ready performance of new single "Should've Been Us," an undeniable pop earworm, earned a standing O from the audience. More importantly, Kelly represented a new type of power-vocalist.
57m
6m
42m
58m
1m
1m
46m
3m
34s
6m
21m
8m
5m
1m
4m
21m
1m
1m
21m
41m
1m
51s
20m
20m
3m
20m
59m
20m
20m
20m
7m
21m
1h 3m
2m
1m
1h 42m
2m
41m
5m
40m
59m
1m
4m
5m
55s
2m
1m
1m
1m
1m
37s
42s
1m
1m
10m
44m
46m
41m
44m
7m
6m
1m
24m
12m
41s
20m
1m
5m
44m
1h 16m
41m
20m
4m
4m
5m
5m
5m
20m
22m
20m
24m
43m
21m
47m
20m
20m
1h 25m
1h 42m
1h 39m
47m
20m
8m
7m
2m
46m
7m
2m
20m
21m