{"id":3626,"date":"2025-07-13T20:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T20:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/emmauel-kelly-interview-2025-fifa-club-world-cup-halftime-1236018833\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T20:15:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T20:15:00","slug":"emmauel-kelly-interview-2025-fifa-club-world-cup-halftime-1236018833","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/emmauel-kelly-interview-2025-fifa-club-world-cup-halftime-1236018833\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Club World Cup Performer Emmanuel Kelly on Being First Differently Abled Halftime Star: \u2018It\u2019s Pretty Extraordinary\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tWhen Emmanuel Kelly<\/a> was 11 years old, he put a note on his mirror that he looked at every day manifesting his dream of sharing a stage with Coldplay<\/a>. And now, after checking that bucket-list item off after opening for the band in his native Australia last year on their Music of the Spheres Tour, the singer who first rose to prominence with a breathtaking cover of John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d on The X Factor Australia<\/em> in 2011 has ticked off another major lifetime goal.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Doja<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDoja Cat, Tems & J Balvin to Headline First-Ever FIFA Club World Cup Final Halftime\u00a0Show\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s pretty extraordinary,\u201d Kelly told Billboard<\/em> a few days before performing with Coldplay at Sunday\u2019s (July 13) 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final halftime show<\/a>. Kelly, who was found in a box in a park during the height of the Iraq War as a baby, severely injured by chemical warfare, is the first differently abled pop artist to perform at a halftime show, and he is more than happy to take credit for blazing that trail.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a market that has never been represented on this scale and someone always has to be the first and for me to be that is a sign of the times,\u201d he said of singing alongside fellow pop icons Tems, J Balvin and Doja Cat and duetting on\u201dSky Full of Stars\u201d with Coldplay from the roof of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey during the match between Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard<\/em> chatted with Kelly about the halftime show curated by Coldplay singer Chris Martin \u2014\u00a0co-produced by Global Citizen, in partnership with Live Nation, Done+Dusted and DPS \u2014\u00a0and how he turned his childhood dream into a globetrotting reality.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the first time a person with a disability will headline a global event or halftime show of this magnitude. How does that feel to hear that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tExtraordinary\u2026 the wall and barriers are breaking down and we\u2019re living in a society that recognizes that talent is talent and a gift is a gift. It\u2019s an honor and a privilege and I feel like the luckiest person in the world. I\u2019m a huge fan of FIFA and a huge fan of people being seen for who they are and I get to show that to 2.5 billion people on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\tHave to ask, what\u2019s your team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a Chelsea fan in general, but for a long time I was a Real Madrid CF fan, but I felt they got too rich and got too many players. But I\u2019m also a fan of players and I gravitate towards individuals who are awesome human beings in whatever form, because all humans have the capability to be great.<\/p>\n

\n\tTalk about performing with Tems, J Balvin, Doja Cat and Coldplay at the Club World Cup final. That\u2019s a pretty epic stage to be on for what will likely be most of the world\u2019s first exposure to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not bad. I like to say they\u2019re all taking the lineup with me. [Laughs<\/em>] I\u2019ve been a huge fan of J Balvin since he globally popped on the scene 10 years ago and I\u2019m a big Latin music fan in general. Reggaeton was going to be a start for me at one point. \u2026 I\u2019ve done a few Latin tours. Doja, she\u2019s a class act and has this unassuming nature but is so cool and vibey. And then Tems, I\u2019ll be honest, I was new to her music until Chris introduced me to her. I\u2019m in love, she has a really cool vibe. I\u2019m in great company with Chris, though I\u2019m not even sure why he\u2019s singing with me. [Laughs<\/em>] He should be grateful he\u2019s allowed to sing with me.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you end up on this bill? What\u2019s your relationship with Chris?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s a brother to me. It started in 2016 when we first met.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was the connection?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tEnergy, positivity, love. I\u2019m a believer that everything in this universe has its way and there are random acts, but those acts lead to cause and reaction. Where Chris was at in his life and his career and where I was at in my life and career created a random act and the cause of that was Chris learning about me and the reaction was Chris taking action to want to meet me and become my mentor. I told him he\u2019s been an inspiration to me since I was a little kid. One of the first songs I learned when I came to Australia [at 8-years-old Kelly and his brother were brought to Australia by humanitarian Moira Kelly and underwent life-saving surgeries] and could barely speak English was [Coldplay\u2019s breakthrough 2000 hit] \u201cYellow.\u201d I can only shine so bright, but everybody\u2019s brightness shines because they have electricity around them that fires those bulbs and lights them up.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was the spark from Chris?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tChris has an electricity that allows me to shine as bright as I can be and he has people around him who do that for him and now we kind of do that for each other. When I was 11-years-old I put a sign on my mirror and looked at it every day and it said I would tour with Coldplay one day. During a dark time when I was homeless in L.A. and lost hope and love for myself, I found a way out by remembering all the good in my life. I let go of ego and pride and asked for help and I took that sign from when I was a kid and put it on the wall again and said, \u201cthis dream cannot end.\u201d [Coldplay\u2019s] \u201cYellow\u201d was the first song I ever learned, before \u201cImagine,\u201d and I sang it to my mom, who had no idea who they were. Chris is an extraordinary individual who has an electricity that fires a lot of people up. I was going around Hollywood asking everyone \u2014\u00a0from Snoop Dogg and the Quincy Jones camp to random Joe Blows \u2014\u00a0if they knew Chris Martin. I asked 1,500 people in the span of six months and the 1,499th person connected me with Dr. Habib Sadeghi [co-founder with Martin of the Love Button Global Movement]. He said \u201cit will happen when it\u2019s supposed to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYou opened four shows in Sydney with Coldplay last year and now you\u2019re jumping up to the biggest stage there is, so describe the plans for the FIFA gig.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\n\tChris will be coming out as my special guest, even though it was all planned by him! [Laughs<\/em>] We will come together to sing \u201cSky Full of Stars,\u201d which is a beautiful sentiment for anyone who wants to reach out to the stars and grab them. I believe that this will be one of the greatest halftime shows from a spectacle point of view we\u2019ve ever seen. The way the MetLife stage is set up we\u2019re on the third floor up on the roof and singing in the sky.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve achieved so much against such major odds. If you had a message for other aspiring singers, of whatever ability, what would you tell them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBe your version of an outlier. Be an outlier and don\u2019t be afraid to be different. Being different is cool. I\u2019ve had labels and execs and shows turn me down because I\u2019m an outlier, and that\u2019s never stopped me. Don\u2019t complain about the situation; fix it yourself. If you don\u2019t like how things are rolling, do something about it. Be the change. You be the change and be the best version of yourself and don\u2019t be afraid to be different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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