INTERVIEW: Rorie Kelly Aspires to Sing With Muppets
Rorie Kelly wants to bring our strengths to the forefront with their healing music. In our interview, we talk exploring small towns and manifesting collabs with Tegan and Sara and the Muppets.
Keep queer country community strong and dive into our 600/500 Challenge today!
Rorie Kelly brings a little bit of magic with them where they go. She excels at live looping her music to create multi-faceted pop music with killer hooks. Their mission in life is to spread healing through art, and to remind you to love yourself with the fierceness of a kitten that doesn't know it is tiny. Rorie’s music has been featured in film and TV shows, received radio airplay around the world, and led them to perform at the Obama White House in 2016. With their recent song "Stranger Things Have Happened," Kelly reflects on the tough times – and what it means to come out on the other side. We also talk collaborations with Tegan and Sara, as well as manifesting a Muppet team-up.
Explain the title of "Stranger Things Have Happened."
This is a song about reclaiming hope during a time in your life where there is little to be found. I wrote it in the aftermath of a very chaotic chapter in my life. It is meant to capture the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with showing up for yourself through something hard, and daring to dream again about a better life. I hope it inspires people to dream bigger even when life feels overwhelming.
Whom would you love to collaborate with? Why?
Tegan and Sara. I've been a fan since the early 2000s and one of the most exciting things to me is that every single album has a dramatically different sound than the last - but the songwriting always reels me in no matter how the album is produced. I'm excited by a band that's not afraid to experiment and evolve. When I am feeling stagnant on a song and need a new section that brings in fresh energy I ask myself "What would Sara Quin do here?" So, in my brain I am already collaborating with them, haha.
When touring, do you try to make the most of being in a city, or do you prefer to just rest up?
I feel like I always want to do and see more when I'm in a new place. I also have a habit of overs-cheduling myself and don't always feel like there's room for a "tourist day" which is what I hope to have more of in the future. For now, I try to always find a local witchy shop and a local independent coffee shop, brewery or winery so I can experience a little bit of the energy of what it is like to live there.
Recent release you cannot stop listening to?
Olivia Dean's Art of Loving. One of the singles hit me at just the right time that I had one of those "This song is about my life and I want to hear it every minute" moments, and when I dug deeper to listen to the full album I found this delicious mix of retro and modern sounds, jazz and pop and soul, and lyrics that challenged mainstream perceptions about love and relationships. The whole album is a delicious experience for me.
Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?
This is the silliest, but my two big "this is how I'll know I've made it" dreams are to guest on The Simpsons and Sesame Street. I want to sing with the Muppets so badly. And someone recently told me I am "an even mix of Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson," which makes my nonbinary heart sing.
