Category: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts

Bobby Carter | April 26, 2024 There’s nothing like hearing the oohs and aahs from the Tiny Desk audience when a recognizable note hits the soul. Ne-Yo’s setlist stoked up audible gasps with nonstop hits from his catalog and a few he’s written for megastars. He came draped in a bedazzled outfit and his signature fedora (one we had to ask him to adjust to see his eyes.) Not to be outdone, the band came outfitted in matching earth tones and sounded just as good as they looked. As with most artists who’ve spent years on the radio, the charts [See More…]

Suraya Mohamed | April 12, 2024 In the corner of a busy office at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, a staffer rearranged books, vinyl records and tchotchkes on a bright red shelving unit. The production crew double-checked equipment settings and made small adjustments to the lighting. Another worker added a few more posters to the tall white file cabinets. Cameras were set and microphones were ready because Fujii Kaze and his band had just rehearsed the night before. Everyone in the room — including a few of us from NPR that were there to help — was eager [See More…]

In 2021, the Tiny Desk x globalFEST series was created to promote international music discovery. For the last three years, artists from around the globe have performed Tiny Desk (home) concerts from their respective countries, but for the first time this year, artists performed at the Tiny Desk at NPR’s headquarters. Suraya Mohamed | April 1, 2024 Thandiswa Mazwai is one of post-apartheid South Africa’s most influential musicians. For nearly 30 years she has championed a kind of dance music called Kwaito. The South African genre mixes a variety of rhythms and influences including hip-hop, reggae, jazz and house music. [See More…]

Bobby Carter | March 27, 2024 Most artists who play the Tiny Desk leave behind a small memento to live on the shelves. Big Sean gave us his special Detroit Tigers/J Dilla baseball cap, an item that speaks to who he is as an artist. Sean doesn’t allow too much time to pass without reminding you of his native Detroit and his most recent freestyle samples an instrumental from the late great J Dilla. Sean pushed our boundaries, presenting one of the longest setlists in Tiny Desk history, but was also extremely gracious and collaborative with our team. This wasn’t [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | March 21, 2024 It’s become a Tiny Desk tradition for artists to leave a small offering on the shelves — a tchotchke, a toy, a signed album or piece of swag, a guitar pick, that sort of thing. Usually, those pieces get absorbed into the visual din, but sometimes, they change the look of the Tiny Desk permanently. All of which is to say that when Chappell Roan finished her magnetic performance, we immediately sought her out to sheepishly ask if we could keep her wig. Roan’s marvelous debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | March 15, 2024 Walking into the room shortly before Justin Timberlake took our cramped stage, I overheard someone on his team wondering aloud if this was to be the most densely populated Tiny Desk concert in history — which is to say, the most musicians we’ve ever fit in a single frame. It’s not, but we don’t often find a way to cram in this many human beings (15 in all) and this much gear. Timberlake has never been one to give partial effort, but this is a production befitting the occasion: namely, a set timed to [See More…]

Maia Stern | March 11, 2024 What better way to spend March 11 than with 311 bringing love and nostalgia to the Tiny Desk. The members of 311, who have been a band together for over 30 years, strolled into NPR HQ and barely needed much rehearsal time before playing four of their most beloved tracks. The band has been performing these songs for decades, and you can tell it all just comes naturally. “This kind of reminds me of being in my dad’s basement, being back next to the pool table, but it smells better here,” said lead singer [See More…]