After starring in TV series and films like City on Fire, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Younger, or Scream 4, Nico Tortorella is broadening his creative output by delving into music. After teasing us with three singles, he finally releases born., his debut album. Consisting of ten songs, the actor-turned-singer’s record “is my heart and soul laid bare, tracing the path of fatherhood through lyric and melody,” he shared on Instagram a month ago. “It’s been a spiritual awakening, a technical challenge, a creation from conception to gestation to birth,” he continues.
But what sparked Tortorella’s interest in music making? Several events in his life. First, his role as the frontman of a fictional band called Ex Post Facto in AppleTV+ series City on Fire. It was then and there that he discovered music as another way to express himself, maybe differently from playing a character in a series or film. And then, naturally, his wife’s pregnancy, who gave birth to their daughter, Kilmer Dove, just last March. As he wrote on an Instagram post announcing his debut album, “This is more than music; it’s a diary of becoming a father, a new chapter I’m thrilled to share.”
Furthermore, Tortorella shares: “Working on City on Fire awakened a dormant passion within me. It provided the catalyst for me to not only express myself artistically but also to embrace my truest essence. The studio became a sanctuary, where I could merge the worlds of character development and personal introspection, ultimately leading me to uncover a new facet of my creative identity.”
The result of that is the born. album, featuring songs that are heartfelt, honest, and convey a sense of realisation, bliss, and enormous joy. In Kilmer Dove, named after his daughter, he sings “She’s ready to fly / She’s not alone” over a beautiful piano melody. In Grapefruit, the first single Tortorella shared, he sings “Every little thing about you tastes / Sweet and sour / Goddamn you’re beautiful / Grapefruit unusual,” in a more lo-fi, dreamy base. The album closes with La Santa Madre, a nine-minute track that feels very spiritual, almost gospel-like, and where Nico dares to sing in Spanish.
“As I prepare to share this new body of work with the world, I feel reborn myself—transformed by the journey of parenthood,” Tortorella said on Instagram. Now he’s shared this to the world, and we’re sure it makes him empowered to feel that thousands of people around the world can relate to his story and feelings. Because parenthood is an adventure that many share, and it’s as beautiful as it is nerve-wracking.