Tori Kelly: #turnuptoronto

I first came across Tori Kelly on YouTube around about last summer, but it turns out she's kind of a veteran in the music biz, even though she's only 20. She was the winner of America's Most Talented Kid and then was a contestant on American Idol season nine, but she didn't get past Hollywood week.

I don't understand.

Because after listening to her recently released EP Foreword, and then attending her concert last week, I am FLOORED by the incredible talent that is all bundled up in this awkward little blonde girl who stood on stage with nothing but her four guitars and proceeded to blow our minds for the next ninety minutes.

Her runs are flawless and she executes them with the sweetest falsetto contrasted by an earthier register, and she manages it all with a power that I can't even begin to comprehend. It was such a low key, no fuss performance. The venue was small enough and her connection with the crowd was intimate and authentic, there was no opening act, there was no announcement of her arrival. She walked on stage, she picked up her guitar, she stepped up to the mic, and it was beautiful.

I attended with my sister and a good friend, and all three of us agreed that we almost never want her to make it big. With all the pyrotechnics, backup dancers, gospel choirs, synthesizers and giant projection screens that dominate concerts put on by bigger acts that need to justify the high dollar ticket to a sold out crowd of tens of thousands, there's something to be said about the purity of an artist who is able to come out on stage and do nothing but perform - nothing more, nothing less.

Thank you, Tori. #turnuptoronto