Tori Kelly Says Doing Voiceover For 'Sing 2' Was 'Awkward And Weird'

Tori Kelly said she had a lot of fun reprising her role as Meena the singing elephant in "Sing 2" but she also had some "awkward" and "weird" moments in the recording booth.

Kelly appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Wednesday and talked about her most interesting experiences in the movie, which hit the theaters on Dec. 22.

"It's really fun and you have to just not be scared to be silly. 'Cause it's very awkward," she told guest host Brad Paisley, who is currently filling in for Ellen DeGeneres. "This was my first time doing voiceover work, so thankfully I had our amazing director Garth Jennings, who is just like a kid at heart."

Kelly said she felt weird making all sorts of noises for her character in the film.

"It's similar to being in a recording booth, like, just recording a song. So that part felt comfortable; I already knew kind of how to do that part. But it's a lot of repetition," she shared in the interview.

"I mean, there would be times where they would be like, 'OK… this scene you're falling down a hole. And so we need you to make noises like you're falling.' And I'm like, 'Well, I've never fallen down a hole before, so…. But I imagine it would sound like this!' And then you just kind of try things and it's really awkward and weird but they somehow make it sound great."

Meena is depicted in the film as a timid, soft-spoken teenage elephant with a very beautiful voice. At the end of "Sing 1," she overcomes stage-fright with a few encouraging words from the movie's main protagonist, Buster. In "Sing 2," Meena meets an elephant ice cream vendor named Alfonso and the two fall in love.

Kelly talked about her 2022 Grammy nominations for best traditional pop vocal album for 2020's "A Tori Kelly Christmas" and album of the year as a featured artist on Justin Bieber's "Justice."

"Man, so I was not expecting it at all. I mean, I got nominated for my Christmas album… but I mean, Dolly Parton is in that category and all these legends and… it's wild," the "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" singer told Paisley. "But yeah, I got the call from my publicist and I didn't even know why she was calling. I didn't even know that the nominations were being announced that day; I was just not in the loop. It was a huge surprise and a huge honor — I hope I get to go!"