Tori Kelly On ‘BET Awards’, Being Discovered On YouTube + Clarifies Her Nationality, ‘My Dad is Jamaican’ [VIDEO]

On being asked to perform at the BET Awards:

I was stoked. I was probably on a plane. I remember I wanted to freak out but I couldn’t but I was just honored. They told me right away I was going to be apart of the Smokey tribute and that’s not just performing, I’m was honoring a legend. I was already geeking out I was getting to go and let alone perform in front of all those people.

Being discovered from YouTube:

[My Frank Ocean Cover] was my first like viral video— [Dave] Appleton showed Scooter [Braun] that video and he was like, ‘I have to get to a show’ and I just happen to have my very first show, ‘Just Me and My Guitar’ that week. It was at a small lounge in LA and Scooter couldn’t get into the show. My friend from YouTube Tim DeLaGhetto, saw Scooter and got him into the show. From there he hit up my people and we basically got in touch.

Being hesitant to sign with Scooter:

I was a little hesitant at first because I had been signed before and I was just finding out that I could do it all by myself with YouTube stuff and I was writing songs and getting this fan base. I was stubborn and didn’t want to let anyone in. But after a few meetings I was finding it was time I could really expand.

Not caring about a Grammy Award:

[A New Artist Grammy is] not a dream of mine at all. Since I was a little girl, for sure yeah, I think every artist would dream about that. That would be a huge honor.

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