Soulful-voiced pop-turned-gospel singer Tori Kelly, fresh off her first Grammy wins — two trophies for best gospel performance/song for “Never Alone” and best gospel album for “Hiding Place” — is opening her 2019 Acoustic Sessions Tour at Fox Tucson Theatre on Monday, Feb. 25.
Expect to see Kelly still basking in the afterglow of adding “Grammy-winning” to her résumé and concert posters. The R&B pop singer, who signed her first record deal at age 12 after beating out now country superstar Hunter Hayes in “America’s Most Talented Kids,” is touring off the Grammy-winning “Hiding Places,” which she released last September.
She’s also sneaking in some new material, including her new single “Change Your Mind” and a few other songs she’s been writing and recording over the three years since she released her debut pop album “Unbreakable Smile.”
“That’s an exciting element for me, to be on tour and share (new material) with my fans,” Kelly, 26, said during a phone interview last Friday.
During our conversation, Kelly, who appeared in the animated film “Sing” and in a national commercial for Nationwide Insurance, talked about working with her hero — gospel great Kirk Franklin, recording a new album and her hopes that “Hiding Place” will give fans hope.
Working with Franklin: “It all started with the idea of putting a gospel song on my mainstream album. When I went to go work with Kirk to get that one or two songs, it was like, oh, there’s something really special happening here. Maybe we should just make a whole project and put it out. ... I just felt honored to be working with someone like Kirk Franklin. I was listening to his music since I was a kid and he is just so well-respected.”
High hopes and no expectations: “I didn’t know what to expect. I think I just kind of got to a place where, OK, if people like these songs great. If it doesn’t get the recognition or maybe not as many people are digging it or maybe don’t have the same beliefs, that’s fine. But I just really wanted to share this piece of myself. It was something really close to my heart.”
Grounded in her faith: “Deep down we want something to cling to. And for me that has always been God. My faith has really grounded me. It was the message I wanted to put out there, that this is how I get through things, this is how I get through life is by believing in these things. At the end of the day I wanted people to feel that love and feel that hope.”
