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.
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