Tori Kelly Debuts New Brunette Hair, Ditches Signature Blonde Hue Ahead of New Music
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Theo Wargo/Getty; tori kelly/instagram
Tori Kelly is ushering in a new era.
The Grammy winner just unveiled a new look, plus announced a brand new project that fans can't seem to get enough of.
The 30-year-old singer-songwriter is coming back from a three-year music hiatus (her role in the animated film Sing 2 aside) and is switching up her look to usher in the new creative era.
In a recently shared Instagram post, the star announced her new single, "Missin U," and unveiled the cover art, which featured her bold new look.
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The purple-hued cover art featured the song title in '70s-style pink and silver font on top of a moody photo of Kelly in an all-black, tight-fitting, cut-out outfit with her new brown locks in two buns — a striking difference to her blonde curls.
In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE Kelly opened up about the motivation for the hair change saying, "With this next chapter and era of my career, it felt right to change things up."
Continuing, "After ten years of being blonde, I wanted to go back to my natural hair color. In some ways, it's new and fresh. In a lot of ways, this is me going back to my roots as a brunette. I'm looking forward to having fun with my overall look and expressing myself through this new sound that I'm really proud of."
LISA O'CONNOR / AFP/ Getty
She captioned the post of her returning to her literal roots, "missin u 💟 3/17 new single. new era." Leaving her famous friends to praise the new era coming their way
Ella Mai chimed in on the look and announcement with, "the dark hair is giving me lifeeeee! i can't waittttt! 😍," Ashley Graham said, "T O R I freakin K E L L Y !!!!!!!!," and fellow American Idol alum Jordin Sparks praised her, "YASSSSSS TORIIIIIIIIIII."
Just before the announcement, Kelly revisited her old era and look in a teaser for the new song with clips from her YouTube singing days, her American Idol career and her accepting her Grammy award, all in a retro-inspired home video feel clip — highlighting the big changes she has made to her appearance and the big changes soon to come in her music career.
Following the announcement, Kelly posted a sneak peek at the single with an Instagram Reel in which she also showed off her new-yet-old brown hair.
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In the video, the star is singing the lyrics, "It was the perfect night kissing you, was raining purple skies in my room, me and you, oooooh I'm missin you" with her freshly dyed hair slicked back in a pony and with another all black outfit on — only this time a sweatshirt and tee.
