In this episode Durell is joined by indie creative Tori Helene. Durell and Tori begin the episode talking about how they first got connected through a mutual connection. Durell and Tori talk about how she was originally born in Pittsburgh PA but she was raised in Cincinnati OH. Durell and Tori talk about how proud she was to be raised by her parents and they played a lot of classic R&B records from artists like Jeffrey Osbourne and that’s what really helped to shape her musical taste. Tori and Durell talk about her earliest memories of music when she was 5 or 6 years old watching Michael Jackson perform on TV. She also remembers when she was at the age of 8 going to a Destiny’s Child concert with her dad and knowing then that she really wanted to pursue a music career.

Durell talks about how much appreciation and respect he has for Matthew Knowles in him being able to execute his plan properly for each of the girls of Destiny’s child and them all achieving success. Durell and Tori talk about how even though it was a different industry at the time of him being able to do what he did, it is an even better time now more than ever to pursue and build a career in music. Durell and Tori talk about indie creatives who don’t take the time and have respect for the craft of music. Taking the time to learn what needs to be done is so important and not just pursuing this career because of how difficult it is to build success.

Durell and Tori talk about how much of a big imagination she had as a kid and would take the notepads from her dad who is a doctor and write and start to map out what she would do and she would then at 14 years old go to her friend’s house who was a rapper to get practice recording in a studio setting. Durell and Tori talk about her going to a performing arts high school. Durell asks Tori about her experience going to a special school. She shares that she would have her traditional classes for half of the day and then have more of the performance-based classes for the other half. She said it was definitely an experience to prepare her for how competitive the music industry can be. Durell and Tori talk about the fact that someone who isn’t in the space of music professionally will never really understand what goes into the work of being a professional. Durell asks Tori if she had support from her parents in wanting to pursue her music career. She shares that she had support from her parents but they did want her to go to college to have a backup plan. Durell shares that he’s not a fan of the term “backup plan” because it sets people who have that mindset up for failure. Durell shares that one of his mentors, Leslie Braithwaite (22 time Grammy Award Winning Mix Engineer) says to people never let their plan B be too far away from their plan A. Durell shares that he finds that education is the missing link to so many indie creatives and that’s where the struggle comes in for most of them, and having to navigate through an unregulated industry.

Durell and Tori talk about her releasing her first EP called “Dark Angel” which was a darker alternative type of R&B sound. Tori shares that the inspiration behind that project was her love for one of her favorite artists Tinashe. She talks about her feeling really emotional and depressed during that time and that really reflected in her music at that time. Durell shares that he just knew there was something special about Tori and that he knew he wanted to work with her. Durell shares that he has seen her grow over the years with her craft and is so proud of where she is going with her career. Durell and Tori talk about how their relationship began and the fact that she really didn’t trust him and was very protective of her space. Tori shares that she knows what she wants and is very careful about letting people come in and that initially would cause them to “fight” each other when it comes to direction and vision. Durell shares that he felt the best thing to do was to let Tori do her own thing for a while. Durell knew that Tori would come back and that having him in her corner was the most important thing. Durell and Tori really believe that trust matters.


Durell and Tori end the episode talking about talking about her working on an EP that was supposed to be called “Chainless”. She shares that she decided to not release that project in 2020 because she felt that she could do much better. She decided to pivot and begin working on what would be her EP entitled “Moonchild”. Tori shares that the process of making this EP was much smoother and she was in a much happier place. She says the music was much more positive. She shares that her EP really showed her growth as a songwriter and vocalist. She shares that she’s been really pleased with the response that the project has received. Durell and Tori talk about the importance of being able to go directly to an audience and not having to worry about the Instagram algorithm and the things she can’t control. Durell shares that he often tells Tori to celebrate her small wins because that’s often what keeps her encouraged to keep going when things get difficult. Durell shares how indie artists should view records labels and the function of them in today’s music ecosystem.


For more information on Tori Helene, please follow her on Instagram:

@torihelenesings