Tori Kelly Was ‘Overwhelmed with Inspiration’ After Welcoming Son. The Emotional Reason He’s on Her New Album (Exclusive)

"It feels so special," Kelly tells PEOPLE in this week's issue about featuring son Zayden on her new album, 'God Must Really Love Me'

NEED TO KNOW

• Tori Kelly tells PEOPLE her 7-month-old son Zayden loves her new album God Must Really Love Me, which was inspired by her joyful motherhood journey
• Kelly wrote songs for the album while pregnant and included audio of Zayden’s birth on a track
• She credits her husband André Murillo and her Christian faith for helping her balance music and motherhood

Tori Kelly is basking in a new chapter as a first-time mom to son Zayden Michael, whom she and her husband, German American former pro basketball player André Murillo, welcomed on Nov. 11, 2025. 

Sitting at the couple’s Southern California home, Kelly, 33, is recharging with an iced coffee as she discusses gaining not only a fresh perspective on motherhood but also a new fan. “I thought people were just saying, ‘He’s gonna love your voice,’ because I’m a singer, and I kid you not, he has a crazy reaction,” she tells PEOPLE in this week's issue of Zayden’s response to her recently released sixth album, God Must Really Love Me. “Anytime I put it on, he could be crying or fussing, and he’ll just stop whatever he’s doing.”

It’s only fitting that her 7-month-old is into her new record. After all, he inspired it. Kelly bottled up the bright feelings of this positive time and poured them into God Must Really Love Me. Marrying R&B and gospel, the uplifting album came from the artist “allowing myself to celebrate a season of joy and happiness” while diving headfirst into parenthood with Murillo, 36, she says. “I was just so overwhelmed with inspiration. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

Having kids wasn’t always top of mind for the powerhouse vocalist, who’s been focused on her career since she began working in entertainment as a child. “I always had in the back of my mind that I would definitely love to be a mom, but it didn’t take up a ton of my mental capacity until I met my husband,” Kelly says of Murillo, whom she wed in 2018, two years after they began dating.

When the pair met, Kelly’s star was on the rise. After appearing on Star Search at 10 years old while growing up with her mom, Laura, and dad, Allwyn, in California, she built a fan base on YouTube as a teenager and made it to Hollywood week on season 9 of American Idol in 2010. Discovered by former mega-manager Scooter Braun, she signed a major record deal three years later and went on to score a string of hit songs (including 2015’s “Nobody Love” and “Should’ve Been Us”) as well as three Grammy Awards.

Kelly wrote songs for her latest project while opening for friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran on his European stadium tour last year — on which she was secretly pregnant. “Once I announced it, I just felt so free,” she says of revealing the happy news last July. “The bump was fully out. It was really fun and kind of empowering too.” Armed with a new outlook, Kelly made most of the album after giving birth to Zayden. “Ten days later I was already singing different ideas into my phone,” she recalls. “It just felt like a flood came over me.”

While rooted in joy, the album also includes vulnerable ruminations. On “Bird” she reflects on how she was affected by her parents’ 2019 divorce — which led her to feel anxious about the future of her own marriage. “That was a really rough time for me,” she says. “Even though I was an adult, [I thought], ‘Wait, this is a thing that can happen?’ Because my whole life I had my parents together as a unit, and that sort of shattered that for me.” 

Kelly says she’s gone through “so much healing” since her parents split, and she feels confident in her strong partnership with Murillo today: “We’re a team.”

Kelly is still adjusting to balancing music and motherhood. She thanks Murillo for helping to make the transition a smooth one. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without him,” Kelly says, adding that while parenting “takes up every second of the day” for the couple, “it’s become my new normal. That’s why I say, ‘What was I doing before?’ — because I love it.” 

The singer also credits her Christian faith as a “foundational” part of their marriage and approach to raising Zayden, and it’s especially present on God Must Really Love Me. “The reason I love this music on this new album is because everything is so intertwined,” she says. “Everything I do, I think, flows out of my relationship with God. God is in my marriage. God is in the way I view motherhood. He’s all up in every part of my life.” 

And Kelly decided to include the latest blessing — Zayden — as a featured artist on the album. “He’s the first voice you hear and the last voice you hear,” says Kelly, who even included audio of her son’s birth on the tender track “Too Much” in order to capture the special “moment in time” forever.

“I’m just picturing being 80 — if I get to live that long — and looking back on this album and just losing it because I have my first child on here,” she says. “It feels so special.”

For more on Tori Kelly, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.

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