Tori Kelly just delivered one of the most charming Tiny Desk sets of the year. Backed by an all-woman band, she performed seven songs, six of which came from her June album‘God Must Really Love Me.’The setlist featured‘Hurts So Good,’‘Without You,’‘Fly,’‘Bird,’‘Control’and‘Tokyo,’plus a cover of Stevie Wonder’s‘Don’t You Worry‘Bout a Thing.’
The standout moment came before‘Bird,’when Kelly opened up about the song’s origin. She told the room she got really vulnerable one day and was hit by a wave of anxiety, then channeled those feelings into the track. It’s the kind of honesty that makes a stripped-down performance feel genuinely personal. She also kept things playful, switching between guitar and a toy glockenspiel during the set.
Fans of her film work got a full circle moment too. Her Stevie Wonder cover is the same song she sang as Meena the elephant in the animated hit‘Sing,’a role she called so much fun that she wanted to perform the song live. With‘God Must Really Love Me’marking her sixth album and a Grammy already on the shelf from her 2018 gospel project‘Hiding Place,’this Tiny Desk set is a solid reminder of just how much range she’s working with.
Have you watched the full set yet? Let us know which song hit hardest for you.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.