Tori's Musical Evolution

Added March 17, 1998

There was considerable conversation on Tori's mailing lists about her upcoming 1998 album and the fact that it may be radically different from her previous albums. Some people have expressed fear of Tori's evolution, wondering if they will like the new material. In response to this, Toriphile Violet posted in early March 1998 her thoughts to the Precious Things and RDTRN mailing lists about Tori's music. Violet compares Tori's music to baking and makes what I feel are some very valid points about Tori's development.

>Tori changing her style is slightly frightening because I wonder that it
>will be so drastic that I won't enjoy her as much anymore.
>Anyone else have the same fear?

I can't imagine for a second not liking Tori's work. For me, it's never been strictly what she's done as much as where it's come from. THAT'S what's interesting to me, and that's what I relate to. The feelings, the expression. And the musicianship used to translate those things into something I can *feel* -- not just on a conscious level, but on an instinctive one.

I don't know why, but I'm in a romantic mood today, so pardon me while I wax rhapsodical....

For me, Tori's music is like baking. When you bake, you start off with the individual ingredients and they're each special in and of themselves, but they're WAY more interesting all put together. You have your eggs, and the flour, and the sugar, and the pans and Crisco and all that crap. Eggs and flour are nifty enough alone, but when you mix them up, you get cake. Or donuts. Or bread. You can make a million things. And as you go along, it gets more and more complex. You don't sit down to eat raw dough and say, "Mmmmm, great bread". It takes an entire process to turn it into finished bread, not just kneading Play-doh together for two seconds and then you're done.

Going from a bowl full of goop to cake is pretty amazing, you must admit. Well, I sort of see each of the albums as the cake being made, and along the way, it becomes more and more cakelike -- more and more complete. The only thing is that Tori's cake won't be finished when she finally gets around to frosting it. There's gonna be gumdrops and whipped cream and sugared rose petals and all sorts of goodies on top, all added with each subsequent album. And I don't see her as changing...I see her as adding another ingredient to the cake that already is.

For me, LE was getting the pans out and turning the oven on, UtP was mixing the ingredients up and filling the pans, BfP was putting the pans in the oven and baking, and I feel this album will be the cake just coming out of the oven. Like caterpillar-to-butterfly, what comes out seems very different than what went in, but all the same stuff is still there, tucked inside. It's just chemistry. Magic.

I can't wait!

Violet
xoxox

Go Back To Extras

Go Back To ToriNews

Please give me feedback, comments, or suggestions about my site. Email me (Michael Whitehead) at mikewhy@iglou.com