Tor James Faulkner

Interview With Tor James Faulkner

SBS:  Welcome to our pages Tor!  Awesome to have you with us.  I’ve done the ol’ research from my side of the screen & speakers, and I’ve learned a bit about you online, but even with doing that, I’m sure I don’t know the whole story & I’m equally sure there are a bunch of folks out there in the same boat as me.  So…let’s get everybody on the same page here to start with an introduction from you – how did your journey in music first begin, and what can you tell us about how it led you to where you are today?

Tor James Faulkner:  Hello, it’s so good to be here, thank you for having me.

I’m Tor (yes, like the browser but I’m pretty sure I existed first).  I’m a singer first and foremost but also a songwriter, have appeared on TV, done voice acting and some presenting and modeling over the years too.

My absolute passion is Disco-Pop music.  I love how music can sound so happy and vibrant but be telling the saddest story.  I love most genres actually but I consider myself a Disco-Pop artist who touches a bit on R&B and easy listening here and there.

One of my absolute favorite artists at the moment is Lola Young; she’s been doing some incredible things.  I’m super inspired by vocalists like Cilla Black and Karen Carpenter.  But I have a real penchant for girl groups.

You know it’s funny because I don’t really remember not being in music.  I sort of just got it into my head at very young age that I was going to be a singer.  It didn’t matter where or how, I just knew that was what I wanted to do and nobody could change my mind.

I would treat the playground like a music video, irritating everyone else.  I think my first professional gig was when I was 6 or 7 at a Christmas party.  From there I became a “talent show kid” and started recording around the age of 12.

I remember the very first thing I did in the studio was “I Love You For Your Money” in collaboration with Mark Sheeky.  We entered it into the Eurovision Song Contest.  We didn’t get very far but it’s still one of my favorite songs that I’ve done and that being the first kind of big job outside of the talent show circuit (although I guess it is a talent contest in a way) was a really good start.

I was in pop groups and things for a while too until I found my feet as a solo artist.

And here I am! Ta-daa!

SBS:  As I understand from what I’ve read about you Tor, you took a significant break from making music.  I fully respect that…I think a time out can lead to new perspectives, growth, and a stronger connection to the reasons why we want to do anything we do in the first place…a break can be seriously important, and in many cases, necessary.  That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone come back with so much material as you’ve released this year.  I don’t know about how deep your catalog was in the past, but looking at all of what you’ve put onto Spotify in this one year alone is STAGGERING.  Most artists/bands can go through their whole career and not end up with as many songs as you’ve dropped online in 2025.  I’m assuming you’re not all that worried about oversaturating your own audience?  What do you feel like the advantage is in releasing so much material this year over the traditional way that music tends to be released and letting the listeners have a chance to absorb it all?  You don’t want all that hard work you’re putting in to go unnoticed or get drowned out by the sheer volume of how much is available I’m sure – can you help us understand the current strategy behind how you’re releasing your music?  Was it all created/recorded this year?  Is this a pace that you can keep up to?

Tor James Faulkner:  I think the first thing to say about this is that the break was never my choice.  I never sat down and went “OK, I’m gonna stop.”  In fact, I never stopped actually recording.  There are folders and folders of very rough demos (and Cheeky Girls covers).

Sometimes, when other people have a hand in your career – even if they believe they’re acting on good intentions – the wrong decisions are made, things get veered off course.  The truth is I wasn’t actually allowed to release.

After “The Reflection” came out it was always my plan to follow it up with a part 2.  The person handling my career at that point, wasn’t fully on board with a part 2.  I was touring and recording for about 2 years after it’s release and then started working on what would have been the next album.

We were about halfway through and I did have to take a step back because of a health issue.

In my head, it was only ever supposed to be like a month or 2, recover and get back to it.  But I think the best way that I can put it is that the decisions around career were becoming less and less from me and increasingly more toxic.

I wasn’t allowed to release what was already completed, I wasn’t allowed to share or release any demos I had been working on.  I was constantly met with a wall of “NO!”

During the pandemic it was decided that “Look for Me in Rainbows” would come out.  The idea being that the song could be of some comfort during that absolutely horrendous time.  It was unexpectedly quite successful and two more singles were lined up.  Despite being permitted to premiere them on one of my Fortnite live streams, the plug was pulled.  I was again met with walls of “NO!”

To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement.

But what I started to do was record and write in a more serious way, working with producers remotely.  I figured if I made around 20 tracks by that time things would have changed and I could release that as a bumper “welcome back” type LP.  But things didn’t change so I just kept making music.

At some point I realized, “Well I can’t officially release new music but I could re-record some stuff from my childhood career and send it to overseas radio,” which is exactly what I did.  This went well.

Then I figured I could have newer material included in stuff that I was hosting.

This led to other things like working with Cre@m Soda and providing vocals for adverts in Germany.

The majority of the material was recorded over the past 2-3 years.  Much of it at 3am singing soft and close to the microphone so I couldn’t be “caught” as it were.  There were projects and albums in mind for every song but I also took the opportunity to sing and write basically anything and everything I wanted to.  I asked my followers on Instagram if they wanted this as one massive album or in the originally intended projects – it was a clear 50/50 split.

So those projects are available as their own thing but also the 70-odd track album Moonlight – which is basically all the material leading to Reflection 2.

So, while I am aware it’s a lot of music in a short space of time.  It’s cathartic because it’s in a sense putting things right since getting away from that toxic situation.

SBS:  An unspoken thing that’s kind of implied is that, sure, you took an important break for yourself and your music – but were you always sure that you’d come back to your music career?  I’m assuming there’s something about making music that you discovered you really can’t live without, or you likely would have left it all behind for good.  I’m positive that’s not exactly easy to describe or put into words, but what is it about making music that continually pulls you back to it again?  Why is making music something that you don’t just want to do, but that you NEED to do?  What makes it so special for you?

Tor James Faulkner:  I always knew that I would release records again, in the same way that I always knew I’d be a singer when I was little.  Without sounding like a total arse, it was inevitable.

My brain runs on a different operating system to the majority of folks and I don’t always have the ability to communicate all that well.  Music has always been a way for me to do that.  To get a point across when speaking is hard or to use a song to illustrate a feeling.  It’s a core part of who I am.

My partner will say to me “You sing constantly, I can’t imagine you not singing.”  It’s who I am.

I think most people, if not everyone, enjoys or partakes in music in some way.  Whether you are a professional performer or you hum along to your ringtone when you get a call.

Music is special because it’s like a heartbeat to our lives.

You know when you’re about to fight a massive boss or win a huge fight on a video game and the music comes out of nowhere and it’s pounding along, it’s encouraging you – you’re almost fighting in time with the beats and synths and you’re so excited.  That’s music, that’s life – to me.

SBS:  I was listening to one of your recent records – Reflection 2: The Other Side Of The Mirror.  When I got to “Many Moons Ago,” I felt like I was hearing what I was looking for – sincerity, and that undeniable connection to the material.  In general, I think Pop music has a very tough time in being convincing in at least one of those two essential ingredients no matter who the artist or band might be, and yet here you are, and a track like “Many Moons Ago” fully confirms you can successfully incorporate both of these elements.  So…I suppose the obvious question is how do you go about doing that?  What’s the real key to communication real sincerity and an authentic connection to the music you’re making?  Pop can be such a plastic and shallow genre at times when the respect for the sound isn’t there…so what is it about the way that you write that gives you the opportunity to make a deeper connection to what you create?  Is sincerity and conviction something you think every artist/band out there is fully capable of adding to their music, or is it something that needs to be focused on & prioritized in the process of making music?

Tor James Faulkner:  Thank you so much for your kind words about “Many Moons Ago” – that was actually one of the songs I was most nervous about putting out there.

You know, I write very literally.  So the lines of that song “it’s the middle of the night, I am here alone, coffee on the go” was literally what I was experiencing in that moment.  I was reflecting on the then loss of my music career and a flare up of my anorexia.

I don’t have a process, I sit down to write and what ends up on the page or in the mic, is what was in my brain.

I believe there is a place for very perfectly curated Pop and I believe there’s a place for emotive messy Pop.  There’s a specific art to writing something personal and there’s specific talent to performing novelty records.  I like to do both.

I think the authenticity comes from the approach.  I always admire Daphne & Celeste because they never take themselves too seriously.  When they came out with their album Save the World a few years ago, which is a masterclass in wonky-Electro-Pop, I went back and watched their interviews and performances from when they were out the first time.  They’d get on stage and perform songs like “Ooh Stick You” and they’re being asked if there’s some special meaning behind it.  A lot of pop acts would have some script to follow, they were like “our manager told us to sing it.”

Yet, they came back with such conviction with their newer material – tongue still firmly in cheek of course – but completely authentic.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, be real about the music you’re performing and people will respond favorably to it and you.  People see through smoke screens.

SBS:  When you personally listen to a record like Reflection 2: The Other Side Of The Mirror – are you hearing something that’s never been done before, or something that no one else could do?  What would you say are the main elements/aspects of your music that set it apart from anything else that’s out there?  Is originality something you feel like you prioritize – or is originality in the craft not something that’s as important as we tend to believe it is from the outside looking in?  Everyone has got their own set of influences, and everyone is pretty much on a path that someone blazed long before they got there – so I guess the question is, what’s more valuable…really great music, or something altogether new?

Tor James Faulkner:  I don’t think anything I’m personally doing is new-new.  I think perhaps what sets my music apart is that I’m absolutely not afraid to mix and match genres.  As I said at the top of the interview I do consider myself to be a Disco-Pop artist but there’s quite clearly Country influences, R&B, Rock etc., all kind of touching finger trips throughout my music and Reflection 2 especially.

And again, this is not new.  I would say that acts like Carpenters, Abba, even Britney Spears and people like Doja Cat do this too.

It’s kind of important for me to not feel caged in by a specific soundscape.

What’s important to me is what I’m conveying with my voice to tell a story.  In Reflection 2‘s case there’s a lot of serious subject matter included so it was important to do that with care.  But in something like “No Way, No Way” it was important to come across fun and a bit cheeky.

So a lot of my focus, at least in the early stages of creating a song is on how the vocal comes across. Should it belted, soft, rapped, spoken – is the syntax right.  Then building music around that.

Obviously, you don’t want to sound like a carbon copy of another artist – but it’s not the end of the world that Lindsay Lohan sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks.

I’d say making the music that conveys your message is the most important.

SBS:  The Reflection.  Reflections.  Reflection 2: The Other Side Of The Mirror.  That’s a whole lot of time that’s spent on one very particular/specific concept.  What is it about reflections that resonates with you so much?  Is it like a personal philosophy or fascination of some kind?  Some folks are altogether scared of looking into the mirror in fear of what they might see staring back at them…some folks can’t get enough of their own image…what is it about the concept of reflections that you’re continually drawn to?

Tor James Faulkner:  The name comes from, as you say, that fear of looking in the mirror.  I have a history of eating disorders coupled with body dysmorphia.  These conditions make the relationship with mirrors, with our reflection very complex, often volatile.

There is a character in my favorite video game “Paladins,” she’s called Ying and she uses a mirror as a weapon making quips about the enemies’ reflections.  The projectiles are reflected light and I also found it quite fascinating how moonlight is a reflection of the sun’s light.

So, you could say it’s a bit of an overall fascination.  Something I’m still exploring myself but it is a repeated theme in my life.

SBS:  Let’s pick a song here…hmm…how about “Don’t Ask Me To Do Something (Then Complain When I Do It)” – what’s this all about?  Seems like a very direct title that someone out there likely knows exactly what you’re singing about…almost like this particular track would be made for an audience of one, you know what I mean?  What was it that you wanted to communicate in this song, and what was really the inspiration for it?  Seems like a philosophy that we can all appreciate in our own lives…I don’t want anyone asking me to do something and then complaining about it either – I can relate to ya Tor!  What made this particular subject something that you felt like you had to address within your music?  You could obviously write about anything – so why choose to write about complaining about complaints?

Tor James Faulkner:  Haha!  I’m glad you can relate to it!

Oh boy!  So I have a very close friend called Inbaal and we often communicate through very long voice notes.  Poor Inbaal had 20 odd minutes of me regaling her with a tale of a friend who’d asked for space, then complained when I didn’t get in touch.

Toward the end of the rant I sneered “don’t ask me to do something… then complain when I do it” about this friend – Inbaal goes, “You should turn that into a song.”

It became a song about narcissistic hoovering – but after you’ve had the realization that they’re in it for themselves and it’s not really about you.  Therefore, you feel freer to just tell them to sling their hook.

I felt it was important to address this kind of situation from a friendship point of view.  There’s different stakes in a friendship, right?  It’s a different type of heartache, different type of grief.  Something that’s a little less spoken about.

SBS:  When you’re writing a brand-new song Tor, what do you feel like it has to have in order for you to release it?  Like, when you’re listening back to the tracks you make for the first time, what qualities are you listening for, and what does a song have to possess in order for you to be proud of the end results?

Tor James Faulkner:  It’s more of a feeling.

I’ve actually over the years, learned to be less technical.  When I recorded as a child I was so overly focused on being in tune and every note sounding absolutely perfect that it would often end up soul-less and a bit robotic.  It really doesn’t and shouldn’t matter if the odd flat note slips through so long as it tells the story.

Production wise it’ll be a case by case basis.  Sometimes I prefer to have quite sparse production and sometimes I want an orchestra and 50 vocal tracks.

So, it really is about “How is making me feel?” and “How might this make the listeners feel?”

Obviously I want it to be mixed well enough too, haha!

SBS:  Let me ask you about the album Moonlight.  Tor…my friend…dude…buddy…SEVENTY-TWO SONGS?  What…umm…why…uh…hmmm – you’re probably not aware of how many times I’ve said on our site in our reviews and such that there are about five perfect albums with more than twelve songs on them.  And…again…Moonlight has SEVENTY-TWO tracks?  Any time I see an album with like, eighteen songs on it, I’m already convinced that the artist or band that put it out lacks the right kind of objectivity.  As artists, we get so close to the material that it’s genuinely hard to let go of, and I understand that.  But SEVENTY-TWO tracks Tor?  I’m not gonna lie to you my friend, that’s probably way too much for the average everyday listener out there, not matter who they’re listening to.  So let’s see here…how about this for a question – what can you say to convince your audience that you’re being objective enough with your material and not including cuts that should be relegated to the cutting room floor?  And just because I’m curious – do you feel like you can name more than five perfect albums with more than twelve songs on them?  My mind is always open and I’m always willing to have some debate on this kind of stuff…but yeah dude, when I saw SEVENTY-TWO tracks on Moonlight I definitely did a double-take.  Why put out something of that kind of magnitude?  Was there really nothing that you could have cut?

Tor James Faulkner:  Believe it or not, that was whittled down!  Haha!

But I’m glad you asked this because it’s technically a compilation, it’s like releasing the vault.  You’ll notice it’s mostly in alphabetical order.  Think of it more like a playlist.

So when Moonlight first came out, it was in volumes.  There was some technical mishaps and when getting it back on to the stores, as I touched on earlier, I asked my fans if they wanted it all in one record and they said yes.  I asked if they wanted it released in their intended original albums, they said yes.  I asked which one they’d prefer, it was 50/50.

My label, KNO PR thought it was a good idea.

It’s basically a collection of music that would’ve been released had I been allowed to release regularly up until the point of Reflection 2 coming out.  The name reflects that a lot of these recordings were done under the moonlight.

So, it’s not an album in the traditional sense of it being curated as a body of work, it’s more like a playlist of what my career would’ve been.

SBS:  I’ll leave this question as wide open as possible for you – what’s the most meaningful moment that you’ve had on a personal level with making music over the years & what makes it such a great memory?

Tor James Faulkner:  There were 2 moments and they were very recently.

There are 2 very personal songs on Reflection 2.  There’s “Unmasking” which is about experiencing the world as an autistic person.  There is “One by One, Two by Two” which touches on themes of suicide.

Not only did both these songs reach #1 in a sales chart – they’ve hung around a bit and are gathering steam in other ways.

It’s an absolute gift when any release does well and that’s something I’ll never take for granted.

But it was truly special that these 2 songs in particular resonated with people.  As with “Look for Me in Rainbows,” it’s a little bittersweet because it means others are also possibly having a hard time.  But there is an element of truly being heard and seen when music that has been written so honest and open resonates and hopefully helps people in some way.

SBS:  You’ve already accomplished so much this year that it almost feels strange to ask you about the future when you’ve got so much going on in the present.  Having said that, it’d be bizarre to not ask you about what you’ve got on the horizon for your music and what might be next.  Let’s go with the short term though…do you have any concrete plans for the end of this year?  After having released so many records and songs in 2025, you could take the next decade off and we’d probably all still have plenty of Tor James Faulkner to listen to for several years ahead…but do you plan to put out more still in 2025?

Tor James Faulkner:  Thank you for your kind words!

I will not be taking the next decade off let’s get that clear first, haha!

There’s actually a deluxe version of Reflection 2 due out at the end of October.  Possibly some Christmas music.

I’ve been preparing for a tour, but there are no dates to announce yet; it’s in the planning stages.

I’m actually very keen to provide vocals for some more dance records.

Sorry, you said concrete plans!  Haha!

SBS:  I am genuinely thankful for all your time & answers Tor – it’s been a pleasure to talk tunes with ya.  Throughout all my years of music journalism, I’ve never had an interview where I felt like I would have addressed everything that someone would want to talk about, and I’m sure I haven’t broken that streak today even with all that we’ve talked about.  The best I can do from my side of the screen is create this last space – what we call the SBS Open Floor – for you to say anything else that you’d like to the people that out there reading this.  Thank you again for everything my friend – the floor is officially yours Tor!

Tor James Faulkner:  I want to say massive thank you to SBS for having me, a massive thank you to the readers and a massive thank you to those of you who’ve been following and engaging with my career so far.

I would like to express a message of “never give up.”  Times can be hard, situations can be tough but never give up.

Things always change and they will eventually change for the better, so again, never give up!

Find out more about Tor James Faulkner from his official website at:  https://www.torjamesfaulkner.com

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