Artist: Tori Kelly
Victoria Kelly or known by her stage name, Tori Kelly is an american singer, song writer and producer. At the impressionable age of 14 she started posting videos of her singing on youtube, when she was old enough she auditioned on American idol and that was when more people began to notice her talent. Some of her popular hits include "I was made for loving you" duet with Ed Sheeran, "Unbreakable Smile" and "Nobody Love". Her music sits perfectly in the genres pop, R & B, Gospel and acoustic as she takes inspiration from all of these genres and it is profound in all of her work.
Embodiment of Track:
The overall vibe of this track is essentially someone who is fed up about the dating seen and is now going to focus all that attention on themselves, making themselves better. The intention of this track, based on lyrical content, is to empower people who have had a run of bad luck but to encourage them to keep going, they don't need to focus on trying to find someone. The song suggests to do your own thing and let what you want find you.
Arrangement:
The song starts off with Acoustic guitar, we know this due to the echo of each note as it vibrates in the sound hole which confirms that it is an acoustic guitar and not electric. Vocals are consistent throughout n tone however the pitch changes as the artist shows off her vocal range, electronic drums for the rhythm, electric keyboard, bass starts in second chorus, harmonies, delayed lead harmonies in dear no one section, panning to left and right during last chorus, and a muffled effect (sounds like the instruments have been placed in a box) on back ground instrumental putting her vocals into the main focus, then they fade back in to meet the vocal. The tempo of the song sits around the 86 BPM range.
Production:
To give the gospel appeal or effect in a song the artist may sing in a way or a style that is intimate and emotional, much like a sung prayer or personal praise offering. Typical instrumentation used is the vocals, with guitar, piano and organ which have all in some way been used in the song. The song is structured how ever like a pop song. It starts with a verse which leads into the pre-chorus. This is then lead into the chorus then another verse and chorus then an closing version of the chorus where it repeats the main theme or phrase of the song.
Delays were used on the main melodic line during the choruses for the vocal to reinforce key ideas of the song and these are the parts that are often caught in a persons mind after hearing the song. Essentially this is what grabs the attention of the listener. Accompanied with the subtle bass from the second chorus and the arrangement of the guitar and the electronically produced drum beat further grabs the listeners attention. The key signature for most pop songs is 4/4 and this song being structured like a pop song follows that Pattern. It is played in the E minor scale.
Subjective Feel:
This song overall feels empowering. This song is grey in feeling because it is neither gloomy or happy but falls somewhere in between. This subjective feel is due to the arrangement of the instruments to the vocal, and the minor scale that it is based around.
Objective feel:
As well as using Melodyne or another pitch correction tool in the production the vocals are likely to have compression on them. The song sounds like it is more unnatural or enhanced then like a natural recording. This is evident the most in Tori's higher register as her vocal sounds almost too strained but you don't hear the full effect of that due to the tidying up of the vocal in production.
Final thoughts:
What can i hear?
What could these effects be?
how does it add to the production value?
https://www.kullabs.com/classes/subjects/units/lessons/notes/note-detail/1812
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-1707588621/performance-styles-and-musical-characteristics-of
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