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"   Photo: Lauren Dukoff  &amp;quot;Crystal Lewis\u2014who else? John Mayer, Lenny Kravitz, Lauryn Hill\u2026&amp;quot; said Tori Kelly, citing a wide array of artists who inspire her musically. But once you listen to her new EP, Foreword (out October 22), it all will make sense. The 20-year-old YouTube sensation is no one-trick pony. Rather, her sound is a mix of pop, R&amp;amp;amp;B, and soul\u2014a &amp;quot;fusion, with an urban twist&amp;quot; as she describes it. In a word: Unique. In two: Take notice. Kelly has yet to put out a full-length album, but Foreword is hardly the singer&amp;#039;s first foray into music. Not only has she amassed more than 600,000 subscribers on YouTube, but she also signed her first record deal when she was just 12 years old. Though she left the label in a mutual split, her amazing pipes continued to garner major notice\u2014she made ELLE&amp;#039;s 2013 Women in Music list. Foreword, as the singer explained to us, thus represents a new chapter in her life: The EP title is a play on words to suggest both an introduction to who she is, as well as a movement toward her future as an artist. We think it&amp;#039;s looking rather bright, so we wanted to know exactly how she got to this point, and the perspective she&amp;#039;s gained in the process\u2014plus, how she styles her amazing hair.   &amp;#039;Foreword&amp;#039; releases so soon! What was it like working on it?  I had the help of some amazing musicians, and I feel really blessed to have worked with them on this. It definitely tells a story, especially since my last EP. I&amp;#039;m really proud of how much I&amp;#039;ve grown since then, and I feel like I have different things to say now. I&amp;#039;m just excited to get it out!  How does it represent your growth as an artist?  It&amp;#039;s kind of why I decided to name the EP Foreword. For me, it represents a kind of intro to something that&amp;#039;s going to happen later\u2014maybe an album. The double meaning to it is that it feels like I&amp;#039;m moving forward from who I was before as an artist. I&amp;#039;m still staying true to my sound, but something about it feels more fresh\u2014more &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m ready to do this.&amp;quot;  It&amp;#039;s interesting that you call it your intro, haven&amp;#039;t you been doing this for a long time?  I was actually signed at a very young age\u2014I was 12\u2014and one thing led to another, and I ended up in a mutual split from the label. But it was probably the best thing that could have ever happened, because I was able to kind of leave the industry side of it for a minute and focus on the independent side. I really grew my own fan base. I started posting videos on YouTube with the help of my parents. It was really just us three for a while, doing it on our own, and now, stepping back into the industry, [I&amp;#039;m] realizing that to move forward, we need these people and all the resources that they have. What would you tell the 12-year-old version of yourself, now that you have this kind of perspective?  It&amp;#039;s interesting you say that, because the last song on the EP\u2014&amp;quot;Daydream&amp;quot;\u2014is me talking to my 12-year-old self. It makes me emotional, sometimes, listening to it, because it&amp;#039;s like a &amp;quot;keep your head up, you&amp;#039;re going to get through it&amp;quot; type of song. It&amp;#039;s hard being young and not really knowing who you want to be and where you&amp;#039;re going to go. Why do you think that some child stars have such difficulty growing up in the spotlight, and breaking away from that child identity?  It&amp;#039;s kind of tricky because I&amp;#039;ll never know what it&amp;#039;s like to be Miley Cyrus or any of those young stars who grew up being in the spotlight like that. I&amp;#039;ve only ever really had my own music career. I&amp;#039;m kind of happy, in a way, that it didn&amp;#039;t happen to me that way, because I got to grow up first, and now, I&amp;#039;m kind of able to do what I want without trying to clean up the past.  What other music are you loving right now?  There are a lot of albums that just came out! I&amp;#039;m obsessed with Haim lately. I saw and met them at SXSW when I was there. They are so chill. I love those girls. I also love JT\u2014he can do no wrong.  What about clothes and brands? How would you describe your style?  My style is very laid back. I like to be comfortable, but with some kind of piece that pumps it up a little bit\u2014something more high fashion. Lately, I like BCBG\u2014they&amp;#039;ve been really awesome. H&amp;amp;amp;M is another great one. I&amp;#039;m actually obsessed with the shoes I&amp;#039;m wearing right now: They&amp;#039;re Ivy Kirzhner. When I&amp;#039;m on stage, I generally wear what I would wear every other day, but I think my hair is probably bigger on stage\u2014it seems to be my accessory!  It definitely makes a statement. What&amp;#039;s your regime?  I&amp;#039;m always switching it up. Lately, I use Garnier Style Surf Hair. My mom and I have similar hair, so we share! I also use Not Your Mother&amp;#039;s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream\u2014that&amp;#039;s a great one. And a Not Your Mother&amp;#039;s Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray, which gives it a beach look. I always diffuse it [with a blow-dryer] on low [heat], and that helps with the frizziness.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a23812/tori-kelly-interview-foreword/?src=global_footer>