FEATURE: Spotlight: Tora-i — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Alfie White & Rashidi Noah

Tora-i

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I will bring in some bands soon…

but, when thinking about the artists who are going to be big this year, my mind goes to solo artists. Today, I wanted to highlight the word of the amazing Tora-i. I have a few interviews and features that I want to drop in. The London-based R&B artist is someone who definitely lit a fuse last year. She has been courting a lot of attention with tracks like Serial and PBFF. I am new to her work, though I already recognise her as one of the most promising young artists in the country. It is no wonder that, last year, AWAL were keen to sign a deal with Tora-i. This Music Week article explains more:

“AWAL has signed a new worldwide deal with Tora-i, offering the emerging R&B artist its full range of services.

Real name Tora Lambie, Tora-i, is a 21-year old East Londoner influenced by Mariah Carey, Outkast and more. She released debut EP Cavalierlast yearand has enjoyed support from a range of platforms including No Signal, Complex and more.

Tora-i has a new single, Serial, out now and will play All Points East Festival in August 2021.

AWAL president Paul Hitchman said: "AWAL is increasingly the partner of choice for breakthrough artists with important things to say. Tora-i is a supremely talented and inspirational artist who has huge potential and a unique creative vision. We believe there is no limit to what she can achieve in partnership with AWAL."

We believe there is no limit to what she can achieve

Paul Hitchman, AWAL

Eve Fairley-Chickwe, AWAL senior A&R manager, added: “Tora-i is an incredible artist, and a true creative across every aspect of her music and visuals. It's been amazing to see Tora-i steadily gain traction as an independent artist and start to build an audience here in the UK as well as in the United States. With her new music we are set to see her further evolve in her sound and style."

Pierre Bost, owner of Out Deh Management, commented: "From the release of her debut project Cavalier to now, Tora-i has built an impressive audience and AWAL is the perfect home for her to be empowered as a creative independent artist as well as continue to build globally”.

There might be those of you who are new to Tora-i and want to know more about her sound and background. She is an artist with her own vibe. One that, once heard, gets into the head! Although there is not a tonne of interviews available from Tora-i, the ones that there are reveal quite a bit. CHECK-OUT spoke with the London-based wonder around the release of her single, Serial:

“Jeffrey Thomson: How would you describe your sound?

Tora-i: An experimental soulful experience.

JT: What’s your first memory of music?

Ti: Listening to the radio with my parents.

JT: Just over a year has passed since you dropped your debut single, Vein. How has your life changed since then?

Ti: Crazy to think it’s been a year, in pandemic time that’s like six weeks so technically it wasn’t really thaaat long ago. I don’t feel any major changes though, people know that my music exists, that's about it.

JT: What do you hope people will take away from your songs?

Ti: I want them to feel understood.

JT: What advice would you give to other young female artists trying to make it in music?

Ti: Don’t mek anyone tek yu fi eediat! Bring family or someone you trust along to help and also so you don’t give the impression of being alone, that way people can’t try and take advantage of you. It’s hard not to live on defence but you have to ensure you’re protected. Learn an instrument and/or produce. And don’t worry about proving yourself to anyone, if your intention is pure it’ll happen naturally”.

Before I close things off, there is another interview that I want to bring in. TEETH spoke with Tora-i back in November. It is the deepest and most extensive interview with her so far. Among other things, Tora-i spoke about the new track, PBFF:

“Tora-i exudes authenticity and procures a confident development in her sound. With jazz and funk elements echoing through her R&B and pop melodies, this artist has continuously developed her sound in a progressive and alternative fashion. With talent and a love for corresponding visual art in the form of music videos, Tora-i brings sultry, smooth production to her effortless vocals that provide easy and intriguing listening to her audience.

The intimate creativity of Tora-i’s intentional art has captivated audiences and produced impressive streaming numbers, including over 5 million streams on Spotify alone for her debut EP, Cavalier. The celebration of beauty and womanhood can be visually and audibly endured in her music, within her straightforward songwriting. She embodies the phrase, “empathy with a sharp tongue,” in her honesty. The magnetic power of Tora-i’s music is impeccably represented by her endearing and personable disposition.

Tell me about your creative influences, both inside the walls of music but also outside in general art and creativity.

I would say they range… I think when I was younger I used to be like, ‘Oh, this is my one-person [or] this is my one-person.’ But I think as I’ve gotten older, you just take things from different people or just by life, you’re just inspired by different things. I think the artists that influenced me are usually people that are not just specific in music, they are more well-rounded and have dabbled in other things. So I would say like Prince or Frank Ocean or Andre 3000… that’s a lot of men… Solange. Yeah, those are the ones that come to my head.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alfie White & Rashidi Noah

Your stage name is ‘Tora-i,’ could you tell me a little bit about the origin of that name?

My parents picked the name ‘Tora’ because it means ‘strong’ and ‘tiger’ in Japanese. So that’s where they found that name. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized there are lots of different meanings but that’s why they picked it.

Who is your dream collaboration? You can give a top three.

This is a hard one, you know. Okay… I think some part of me is like, ‘What if I meet them and start fangirling and that’s annoying.’ Top collaboration, I would say James Fon*, for helping me write a song, he would be one of the top ones. Andre 3000, yeah, a verse from him would be, like, it. And then… I’m just going to say those two.

In regards to your upcoming music, what can you tell me about your creative process, what is the messaging behind it? In collaboration with that, will there be a music video associated with this song?

So, “PBFF” is about the marks that we leave on each other that you don’t really heed of until the other person’s gone. It was written in a relationship sense but I think, and I wrote it a while ago, but now that I’m out of that space and I’ve heard it a lot of times now, it can relate to a lot of different things. Just general life, like we all have an effect on each other. That’s more significant than I think we pay attention to. I guess now we feel like, in the last couple of years, we are very singular and isolated, we are living our own life. Everything’s about being self… I guess as people, as humans, I think we’re meant to be community-led and yeah, it is just about that.

There will be a video, I don’t think I’m going to do a video every single time, but there is a video for this one”.

I think that, perhaps, PBFF is the finest song from Tora-i. It is a song that I have been listening to a lot since it came out late last year. I am not publishing this feature until late in January (I am writing this on 11th January), so there may be announcements regarding new work between now and then. As this article rightly states, PBFF is a captivating listen:

“London’s rising songstress Tora-i, formally known as Tora, has recently graced supporters with the release of her brand new captivating single named, “PBFF”.

Exploring a difficult relationship with someone, Tora-i dives into the decisions you have to make amidst the aftermath of it all and what lessons you can takeaway from doing so. Housing an ethereal and laid-back production courtesy of LA beat-smith Josh Grant, Tora-i’s raspy yet rich vocal tone takes centre stage in this captivating listen.

Speaking on the release, Tora-i commented, “PBFF is about acknowledging the lasting effect that people can have on you & rather than it being a permanent stamp it’s about choosing what to take from them as you move forward”.

A sensational talent who is among the absolute pride of London, make sure that you get involved with Tora-i’s work. She is an incredible and tantalising proposition that is going to keep making strides through 2022. I cannot wait to see where she heads! Although most of Tori-i’s fanbase are U.K.-based right now, her stunning music is gripping people…