Tori Kelly on Faith, Finding Your Voice and the Courage to Dream

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About the Episode

Three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Tori Kelly joins The Hope People Podcast to explore the power of music, the importance of staying true to yourself and how faith, family and community provide hope through life's uncertainties.

Faith. Authenticity. Creativity.

For Tori Kelly, music has always been more than a career. 

It's a way to process life's biggest emotions, connect with others and express a faith that continues to shape who she is. 

From a shy young singer sharing videos on YouTube to a Grammy Award-winning artist, wife and mother, Tori has learned that success isn't about reaching a particular milestone or earning the approval of others. It's about knowing who you are, embracing vulnerability and trusting God through every chapter. 

In this heartfelt conversation, captured live at the Creative Arts Collective’s inaugural Art & Wonder Festival during Belmont’s Parent & Family Weekend, Tori joins President Greg Jones to explore how faith, creativity and authentic community shape a life rooted in hope. 

Tori reflects on her newest album, “God Must Really Love Me,” the joys and uncertainties of motherhood and why the greatest impact of her music may happen long after the performance ends.

“I just want to be a facilitator. I want to share my heart, leave it on stage, and then I feel like God can do the rest.”

This episode covers…

• How embracing her vulnerability has deepened her songwriting and strengthened her connection with listeners.
• Why achieving your dreams doesn't necessarily guarantee happiness or fulfillment.
• Why meaningful relationships help sustain hope through life’s uncertainties.
• How music creates opportunities for connection, healing and hope.

When Gratitude Becomes Music

Tori Kelly’s inspiration doesn't always arrive on a schedule.

While pregnant with her son, she began imagining a new album with a more organic, soulful sound. She could hear the musical direction she wanted to pursue, but the songs weren't quite coming together.

Then, just ten days after her son was born, Tori experienced an unexpected surge of creativity. While holding her newborn, she began recording melodies and ideas into her phone.

“I've never felt that inspired before,” she shares. “It hit me like a wave.”

The music suddenly had a purpose. Her son, her husband and her faith became the three central themes of the project.

The album's title emerged during an ordinary drive through Los Angeles. Feeling overwhelmed by gratitude for her family and the life she was experiencing, Tori found herself speaking aloud to God.

“I was just feeling grateful and something about that phrase just felt like it embodied, I think, this music and what I wanted to hopefully have people feel when they listen to it.”

That moment became the inspiration for “God Must Really Love Me,” Tori’s album celebrating gratitude, relationships and the extraordinary beauty found in everyday life.

Learning to Let Go of Control

Motherhood has brought Tori immense joy, but it has also challenged her natural desire for certainty.

Her song “Dive” reflects the mixture of excitement, anxiety and vulnerability that accompanied preparing to become a parent.

Throughout that experience, her husband became an important source of reassurance.

“Every time I would get overwhelmed, I would just look at him and be like, wow, it's so cool that we get to do this together and I'm really not in this by myself.”

Yet, becoming a mother has also required Tori to confront how much of life remains outside her control.

“I feel like I'm borrowing this human,” Tori explains. “It's like, he belongs to God, He's got his life in His hands, and I'm just here to sort of help guide.”

For someone accustomed to working hard, preparing and pursuing goals, parenting has offered a different kind of lesson: learning to trust rather than control.

It's a lesson that extends far beyond motherhood. Sometimes faith requires moving forward without knowing exactly what comes next.

Finding Your Voice Without Losing Yourself

Long before the Grammy Awards and sold-out performances, Tori was a shy young singer with an enormous dream. She loved music but wasn't naturally comfortable with the attention that accompanied performing.

Watching other young entertainers, she sometimes questioned whether her reserved personality was compatible with the career she wanted.

YouTube helped change that.

By sharing videos directly with listeners, Tori discovered that she could build meaningful relationships with an audience without adopting a different personality.

“I could be myself and just sort of put myself out there, and still even be shy and it was accepted,” she says.

That experience gave her confidence to pursue music on her own terms.

“It allowed me to just have that confidence. I can be myself and people will receive it, or maybe see something in themselves that they relate to.”

Rather than changing herself to fit an imagined version of a superstar, Tori learned that her authenticity could become one of her greatest strengths.

Her journey offers a powerful reminder: the strongest personal brand is often the most honest one.

The Courage to Be Vulnerable

Tori's music often explores deeply personal emotions, including fear, uncertainty, love and faith. But sharing those feelings publicly hasn't necessarily become easier with experience.

“I don't think ‘comfortable’ is the right word,” she shares. “It's still very scary.”

During a songwriting session with producer and songwriter Jimmy Napes, Tori learned an important lesson about vulnerability.

While writing a particularly personal song, she hesitated to include a lyric that felt almost too revealing. Napes encouraged her to recognize that discomfort as a sign that the lyric might resonate with listeners.

That advice stayed with her.

When writing “Bird” for her latest album, Tori intentionally challenged herself to explore her fears rather than immediately dismissing them with reassuring answers.

“In songwriting at least, I don't allow myself to really explore that and sit in it for a second, but it's a real feeling,” she admits. “Even though you know the outcome or you know the correct answers or whatever, really try to just explore that fear.” 

She realized that acknowledging the fear of the unknown doesn't diminish her faith. Instead, it creates space for listeners to recognize their own experiences in the music.

The song draws on imagery of birds and the reassurance of God's care, allowing Tori to express both uncertainty and trust.

By giving herself permission to sit with difficult emotions, she discovered a deeper form of honesty in her songwriting.

When Music Speaks Without Words

Throughout her career, Tori has explored gospel, R&B, soul, pop and other musical styles. But while genres and production styles may change, she believes her voice provides a consistent thread connecting her work.

“I feel like whatever genre or whatever the music is doing, my voice, I think, is hopefully the through line.”

Her father, a musician himself, played an important role in helping her develop an individual sound. Whenever she began imitating another singer too closely, he encouraged her to explore something different.

That foundation gave her the freedom to experiment and explore genres in her own way.

Tori also believes music communicates something that words alone cannot always express.

Reflecting on conversations with guitarist Mateus Asato, she describes moments when instrumental performances moved her into a profound experience of worship.

“Sometimes there are no words to even say, and there's a feeling that we can evoke through just melody.”

Music's power lies not simply in what a song says, Tori believes, but in what it allows people to feel. It can create a sense of connection, evoke memories and open hearts in ways that ordinary conversation sometimes cannot.

Dream Big, But Don't Wait to Be Happy

At just 18 years old, Tori wrote a song called “Confetti.” Years later, it remains one of the most meaningful songs in her catalog.

The song explores the tension between pursuing an ambitious dream and learning to be content before that dream becomes reality.

“It really is about that tension between following your dreams and having this big dream, that you can picture it, you can see it, you really want it, but also not relying on that dream happening in order to be happy.”

Even after achieving the career she once imagined, Tori recognizes how easy it is to begin chasing the next milestone.

There's always another award, another opportunity, another goal.

And that raises a deeper question: when will achievement finally feel like enough?

“At what point can you be satisfied and content and happy with where you are in life, with or without that achievement?” she asks.

Today, singing “Confetti” reminds Tori of the wisdom her younger self was trying to hold onto.

“It reminds me of my identity every time I sing it,” she says. “It reminds me of just what really matters, what's important, my relationships and what God says about me rather than what people say about me.”

The song encourages listeners to pursue their dreams wholeheartedly without postponing joy until those dreams come true.

Never Alone: Finding Hope in God's Presence

In 2018, Tori collaborated with Kirk Franklin on “Never Alone,” a song that continues to hold deep personal meaning.

Its message is especially relevant in a world where loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty can leave people feeling disconnected.

For Tori, the song acknowledges the beauty of human relationships while pointing toward a source of hope that doesn't depend on another person's ability to meet every need.

“A song like ‘Never Alone’ is a reminder to me that no matter what, Jesus is the constant. That's the relationship that doesn't waver.”

She believes God's presence isn't something people have to earn by overcoming their struggles first.

“He's there meeting you where you're at.”

It's a message that has shaped both her personal faith and the music she hopes will encourage others.

Whatever the circumstances, no one has to navigate life's hardest moments entirely alone.

A Life and Career Rooted in Hope

Tori Kelly's journey is a reminder that hope and faith don't eliminate uncertainty. They help us move through it.

From learning to embrace her naturally reserved personality to navigating motherhood, exploring vulnerability through songwriting, and finding contentment beyond achievement, Tori continues to discover what it means to live authentically.

Her story reminds us that our worth isn’t determined by our achievement, our fears don’t have to define us and our individual gifts can become sources of hope for others.

Ultimately, Tori hopes that the music she shares will help people experience something greater than a performance: a sense of belonging, a reminder of God's love and the assurance that they are never alone.