The Music of Tori and the Muses is a soundtrack and companion album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. It accompanies Amos's children's book Tori and the Muses, and was surprise-released digitally on February 28, 2025, several days before the book's March 4 publication.
The nine-track album follows the story chronologically and was designed as a musical companion to the book rather than simply as a collection of songs inspired by it. Amos produced the album and was joined by frequent collaborators Jon Evans, Matt Chamberlain, Ash Soan, John Philip Shenale, and her husband Mark Hawley. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Children's Music Album at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Harmony by FYÜTCH and Aura V.
Background
The idea for a musical companion to Tori and the Muses developed after Amos had begun working on the book. According to Amos, her husband and longtime engineer Mark Hawley asked her why a book about music, the Muses and the fairies would not have music accompanying it. Amos initially had not planned to create an album, but agreed with his suggestion and began assembling a music team more than a year before the book's publication.
Amos subsequently developed the music by moving between the story and its illustrations. She described the process as looking at the artwork, returning to the narrative and then expanding the scenes through music. The resulting album follows the book chronologically, incorporating some of its language and functioning as a "listen-along" companion to the story.
The project was conceived for children but was also deliberately made to appeal to adults. Amos said that she recognized that adults would be participating in reading the book with children and wanted the project to allow for an interactive experience between generations.
Recording and composition
Amos gave the musicians visual references from the book while developing the album. She told SPIN that the musicians were shown drawings from the project and that she walked them through the story so they could understand the visual and narrative references behind the music.
One of the clearest examples of this approach is "Building a Mountain". Amos conceived the song as the construction of a mountain entirely through sound, beginning in the lower register of her Bösendorfer piano and progressively moving upward. She described the music as moving from an underground network beneath the mountain to an icy lake, then to clouds and finally toward the moon, with the musical registers representing the physical ascent.
The album uses a notably varied palette for a children's music project. Prepared piano, orchestration, synthesizers, electric and upright bass, guitars, percussion and drum programming are combined with Amos's piano and vocals. The resulting arrangements move between atmospheric, orchestral, experimental, blues, jazz and rock elements.
The album's musical variety was noted by critics. Higher Plain Music described the nine songs as unusually expansive and playful, highlighting the prepared-piano textures of "Day and Night (from the Faerie Workshop)", the dynamic piano and percussion of "Building a Mountain", the orchestral and rhythmic contrasts of "Insect Ballet", the blues and country elements of "Spike's Lament", and the more atmospheric "Rain Brings Change".
Amos's use of the visual to shape the music also extended beyond conventional descriptions of instrumentation. She has described her approach to music as involving shapes and physical sensations as well as colors, and said that she would use visual references when explaining sonic ideas to musicians and engineers.
Release
The Music of Tori and the Muses was released digitally on February 28, 2025, through Universal and Faerie Workshop Rekords. It was released ahead of the March 4 publication of Tori and the Muses. The official release is a digital-media album containing nine tracks with a total running time of approximately 37 minutes.
The album was released as a surprise, with its availability announced on the day of release. It was subsequently made available through major digital music services, including Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming and download platforms.
Critical reception
The Music of Tori and the Muses received positive reviews for its musical inventiveness and its ability to function as children's music without substantially limiting Amos's musical vocabulary. Simon Smith of Higher Plain Music awarded the album 9 out of 10 and described it as a particularly expansive and playful record, praising the arrangements and the variety of musical styles explored across its nine tracks.
AllMusic awarded the album four out of five stars and described it as a "short and sweet" soundtrack characterized by charm and wonder. Neil Z. Yeung highlighted the orchestration and experimental elements of "Day and Night (from the Faerie Workshop)" and "Insect Ballet", described "Building a Mountain" as a track that could have appeared on one of Amos's regular studio albums, and singled out the blues-influenced "Spike's Lament" as an album highlight.
Higher Plain Music particularly praised "Insect Ballet", describing its combination of orchestration, guitars, drums and piano as one of the album's strongest musical moments. The review also highlighted "Mermaid Muse Speaks" for its unusual combination of piano, bass and Amos's invented vocal language, and "S'Magic Day" for its warm and uplifting conclusion.
The album was also selected by SPIN among its editors' favorite albums of 2025. The magazine described the album as "beautiful, playful, and wonderful", emphasizing its appeal beyond children and its ability to encourage listeners of different ages to reconnect with creativity and inspiration.
Themes and musical narrative
The album is structured around the idea of finding and following one's Muses. Rather than presenting the music as a conventional children's soundtrack, Amos uses the individual scenes and characters to explore different forms of creativity and inspiration.
"Knocking" introduces the Muses and establishes the album's welcoming, intimate atmosphere. "Day and Night (from the Faerie Workshop)" depicts the creation of the magical piano that becomes central to the story, using prepared-piano sounds, percussion and orchestral textures to evoke the process of its construction.
"Building a Mountain" translates the act of musical creation into a physical landscape. Its lyrics describe constructing a mountain from sound and progressively reaching an icy lake, clouds and the moon, while the arrangement itself grows in scale and intensity.
"Insect Ballet" and "Anna's Bakery" shift the focus toward other characters and their individual sources of inspiration. "Insect Ballet" uses orchestration and rhythm to create the sensation of movement, while "Anna's Bakery" draws on food and baking as another form of creative expression.
"Mermaid Muse Speaks" is an experimental interlude in which Amos uses an invented language for the Mermaid Muse. The track is built around piano and bass and represents a more abstract approach to the album's theme of communication with one's Muse.
"Spike's Lament" focuses on the character Spike, whose passion for surfing has been replaced by a desire to win. Amos explained that Spike's inability to hear the Mermaid Muse is connected to his loss of alignment with the waves: by attempting to conquer the ocean, he has lost his ability to be "one" with it.
"Rain Brings Change" and "S'Magic Day" provide the album's closing movement, emphasizing renewal, change and the persistence of creative inspiration. The album therefore moves from the arrival of the Muses through the creation of new worlds and individual passions before concluding with an affirmation of creativity itself.
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians Tori Amos – vocals, Bösendorfer piano (tracks 1–6, 8, 9); keyboards, loops (1); Wurlitzer (3), synthesizer (4), Rhodes piano (7) Mark Hawley – guitar (tracks 1, 5, 7–9) Jon Evans – loops (1, 2), upright bass (1, 5), bass (2–5, 7–9), keyboards (2), synthesizer (8) Ash Soan – drums, percussion (tracks 1, 7, 8) Matt Chamberlain – drums, percussion (tracks 2–5, 9) John Philip Shenale – orchestra (2–4, 6), prepared piano (2), modular synthesizer (6); Chamberlin strings, Hammond organ, synthesizer (7)
Technical personnel Tori Amos – production Mark Hawley – engineering, mixing Adam Spry – engineering assistance Jon Evans – additional engineering (tracks 1–7, 9) John Philip Shenale – additional engineering (tracks 2–4, 6, 7) Adrian Hall – mixing Jon Astley – mastering
Charts + Chart performance for The Music of Tori and the Muses Chart (2025) Peakposition
Accolades
+ Awards and nominations for The Music of Tori and the Muses Year Award Category Result 2026 Grammy Awards Best Children's Music Album
References