Tori Kelly covers Seventeen, denies a romance with Ed Sheeran

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Singer Tori Kelly is the cover girl for the February issue of Seventeen, which just hit newsstands. The 23-year-old singer has had quite a year, with her album “Unbreakable Smile” peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200, receiving the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s Women in Music 2015 event and getting a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. She kicked off 2016 performing what’s most likely her new single, “Funny”, on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night.

In the Seventeen article, we learn that if the singer took Simon Cowell’s criticism to heart, we may never have gotten to hear “Nobody Love” (my personal song of the summer of 2015). Tori auditioned for season 9 of American Idol and was told by the notoriously prickly judge that her voice was “almost annoying”. Fortunately, Tori shook off his comments, telling the magazine, “Deep down, I knew I was good, and I knew I could do it. I needed to get knocked down and to build up a thick skin. Who knows what I would have been singing about otherwise? You have to go through things in order to inspire others with your story.”

Tori also uses this latest interview to clear up any rumors about her relationship with Ed Sheeran. Despite the fact that they make some beautiful music together, they have the single “I Was Made for Loving You”, they are strictly business. When asked about Ed, Tori replied, “I knew that was coming, but no. Working with him was a really cool experience because I was a fan and I didn’t know how it would go, but right away he made it super-chill. Ever since then, he’s been someone I consider a friend and even a mentor.”

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Even though it’s been an exciting year, Tori has been accused of being boring – by her own manager. “He told me, ‘People are saying you are vanilla and that you have nothing to say.’ I was like, Whoa. I remembered record-label guys telling me I was really reserved when I was younger. Like, ‘Wake up, you should be bubbly and happy!’ And I was thinking, But this is my personality; I’m just chilling. So I went right back to being that little girl who was just so freaked out. I acted as if I didn’t care, but I went home that night and just poured all the feelings that I was holding back into my music. That’s how Unbreakable Smile came to be.”

A hit album, a Grammy nomination and a collaboration with Ed Sheeran? I would love to be that boring! You can check out the rest of the interview with Tori in the latest issue of Seventeen, available now.

Fashion Group International Night of Stars

Nickelodeon Halo Awards 2015

Billboard Women in Music Luncheon 2015

Photo credit: WENN.com and Seventeen

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30 Responses to “Tori Kelly covers Seventeen, denies a romance with Ed Sheeran”

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  1. Rainbow says:

    I don’t know who she is to be honest.
    I like curls but her hair looks dated to me. It’s like looking pictures of the 80’s here.

  2. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I have to say, I really admire anyone who can stand up to the kind of criticism that artists receive and keep on believing in themselves. I was very shy when I was young,and nothing made me want to curl up in the fetal position more than someone admonishing me to “loosen up!” It made me all the more shy. To be told that your voice is “almost annoying” and that you’re boring and all of that and still go put yourself out there must take a lot of courage.

    • ell says:

      yeah, me too. i’m still a bit shy but i handle it a lot better nowadays. but as a kid, being as a shy as i was, being told to open up was the worst. i used to avoid so many social situations out of fear of being told “not to be so shy”. which makes me laugh now, because some people really lack any sort of empathy or social skills even when they’re super extroverted but they think because they talk a lot, they’re super good at engaging with people while they can be embarrassing.

      so yeah, i admire her as well. she did good.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        Ugh, the worst was at a dance when somebody would drag you onto the dance floor and everybody was watching and they would scream “have some fun!” I truly wanted to sink into the floor. How was that helping?

    • Jolene says:

      The story of herbperseverance is absolutely Inspiring!

    • Naddie says:

      The “have some fun” is paired up with the “you should smile more”. God, how I hate these advices. These people are not concerned about our feelings, they’re just bothered by the introverted behavior.

  3. Abbott says:

    She’s looks like an extra on 90210, which means I love it!

  4. ell says:

    as a society we should really stop pushing reserved introverted people to be more outgoing. as long as someone isn’t crippling shy or suffering from social anxiety, they should be allowed to be who they are. also bubbly people aren’t necessarily more interesting either.

    • Naddie says:

      Exactly. To be true, most bubbly people I know are not interesting at all. And if the shyness is crippling, it only make it worse when someone tries to change us.

      • Ange says:

        Ugh, nothing annoys me more than when introverts have to dump all over extroverts to prove a point. Bubbly people can be interesting too, smart even! Just because you say you haven’t met any (and I’m not sure you really tried) that are interesting plenty are.

        This girl has picked a career where she has to be somewhat interesting or fans will get bored of her, of course they’re going to ask her to be more outgoing!

    • Josefina says:

      Oh God thank you. I always hate it when my friends say I’m wasting my youth or whatever because I wanna skip a party and just stay home with my cat and Netflix. Some people have a really hard time understanding I actually LIKE being alone, and the fact I do doesn’t mean I hate people and wished to live isolated or anything.

  5. Lucy says:

    I love her so much! Now this is a girl who’s all about the music and being herself. And the fact that she doesn’t seem to have any bad feelings towards Simon Cowell nor any of the people who told her such things says a lot about her. The only problem, perhaps, is that she’s friendly with Bieber, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

  6. Elisa the I. says:

    1. I really enjoyed her interview
    2. Just listened to Nobody Love for the first time and while I find the song generic, her voice is good. I don’t get the “annoying voice” comment?
    3. she should go for a darker, ashier shade of blonde. This light tone does not go well with her skin tone / eye brows.
    4. I find bubbly people who often lead a monologue, absolutely annoying. And one of my resolutions for the New Year is to no longer being polite about it, but to actually tell them (we will see how that will works out!).

  7. FingerBinger says:

    I don’t know who this is but she has really big hair.

  8. Crumpet says:

    I think I would like her hair a lot better if she let it be itself, which is (from the looks of it) wildly curly and dark. I haven’t listened to this song, so I can’t have an opinion. But poor Ed – nobody seems to want to admit to dating him. LOL

    • Tiffany says:

      No poor Ed. He is an a hole and I would not blame her one bit for denying it.

    • Fran says:

      More like nobody wants to date him since he’s just plain awful.

    • Lou says:

      Um, maybe because they aren’t dating him?? Why would they admit it when they are not?

      Besides, he has a girlfriend who has a a fancy advisory job in Deloitte&Touch in NYC. She’s from his hometown and they’ve been together for almost a year. She is also an excellent hockey player who captained her team to European Championship wins twice. See? Some celebs can keep it on the down low even when they are randomly linked to Nicole Scherzinger, Tori Kelly etc.

  9. Josefina says:

    I want to like Tori more because she’s truly talented, a real sweetheart and an excellent role model for little girls, but she really is… boring. I like the fact she owns it, though, and she doesn’t have to change an inch of herself.

  10. knower says:

    What about your romance with Jay Z, Tori?

    Lets talk about how that’s helped you out….though at the same time, she actually HAS talent. So I’d let her fling pass. However, it definitely put her out in mainstream places when she wouldn’t otherwise be…

  11. Rockin Robin says:

    This lady can sing her butt off!

  12. Whitney says:

    I LOVE her hair but I have no idea who she is. I have no idea who half of these celebrities are. lol

  13. raincoaster says:

    Mmmm, Ed Sheeran. Who wouldn’t?