Tori Kelly will embrace self-reflection on her fifth album.
On Friday, the pop-R&B singer released the introspective single “High Water,” as she announced her fifth album, TORI. It’s her first album under her record deal with Epic, and it’s out April 5.
The new song was written after she faced a health emergency as she was releasing her EP Tori (Yes, similar name to the album) in July last year. “My hope is that [‘high water’] will uplift others in whatever they might be going through and encourage them to keep going,” she said in a press release. “‘High Water’ is about simply holding on and believing that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”
The new album will be a “truly full 360 vision” of Kelly and will hear her “bring together sounds from the late Nineties and early 2000s in creative exciting ways,” according to a press release.
“I have been working on my next album for the last few years, exploring new sounds & expressing so many different sides of myself,” Kelly said. “I thought I had covered it all until I had a health scare in July of last year that reminded me just how fragile life can be.”
In October, Kelly spoke about the health scare she faced, revealing that she collapsed after having blood clots in her legs and lungs, and that she was continuing to be monitored.
“I thankfully had some amazing doctors who were able to just take care of everything and get me healthy,” she said on the Jennifer Hudson Show. “And it seems, you know, like it’s a manageable thing. Now I feel amazing now. And so you know, they’re still monitoring me and everything like that, but I feel great.”
The new album follows a deluxe version of her EP Tori, which featured songs such as “Cut,” “Unbelievable” with Ayra Starr, and “Young Gun” with Jon Bellion. She also collaborated with Deegan for League of Legends song “You and Me Makes Us” in December.