Bobby Carter | March 5, 2025
Of the 30 million people who have watched Daniel Caesar’s Tiny Desk from 2018, plenty of them raved about the band, specifically the bass player. Little did we know that the young, unassuming musician named Saya Gray would be playing at the Desk seven years later, this time front and center.
Gray’s pop songs are experimental in nature, so I was eager to hear how her music would cozy up to our space. That inclination to stretch out and try anything comes from her musical family: Her mother, who moved from Japan to Canada, founded Toronto’s Discover Through the Arts music school, and her dad, a jazz trumpeter, studied at the Berklee College of Music.
Gray leans into the challenge of the Tiny Desk and strips elements away. Like magic, she gives us these light and soulful interpretations of songs from SAYA, plus a throwback to “IF THERE’S NO SEAT IN THE SKY (WILL YOU FORGIVE ME???)” from her 2022 debut, 19 MASTERS.
SET LIST
“SHELL ( OF A MAN )”
“..THUS IS WHY ( I DON’T SPRING 4 LOVE )”
“IF THERE’S NO SEAT IN THE SKY (WILL YOU FORGIVE ME???)”
“LIE DOWN..”
MUSICIANS
Saya Gray: vocals, guitar, bass
Lucian Gray: guitar
John Mavro: drums, bass, guitar
Ace G: keys, background vocals
Kola Rai: background vocals
Taj Sapp: background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Wendy Li
Audio Engineer: Andie Huether
Production Assistants: Ashley Pointer, Dora Levite
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Lars Gotrich, Kara Frame
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
#nprmusic #tinydesk #sayagray
NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts is a popular video series featuring live, intimate music performances by diverse artists, from major stars to up-and-coming musicians, recorded in the small workspace of Bob Boilen’s NPR office in Washington, D.C.brought to you by SloppBoxx.Com.
DIDN”T KNOW SAYA GRAY HAD A TDC! I’m so happy to discover this
thx god i read the name twice…
She’s phenomenal. Found her on Spotify listening to Nilüfer Yanya who is also wonderful!
i found nilufer yanya while listening to saya 😂
She doesn’t miss. Didn’t know she was the musical director for Willow Smith – also some fire music
they are soooo goood! im so happy i found this tiny desk!
She looks like she belongs on the cover of a Hercegovina cassette. ( if you know you know) Nice to see the backing singer moved to tears also , i think she felt at that moment this was a turning point for her beloved artist, and hopefully she may well be right.
Ever since zucchini dreams came out, I discovered some more of her music like shallow ppl.. idk it’s something about her music that I really love n resonate with
It’s also saya gray too, I think she’s so cool with everything
Saya’s songwriting is next level.
I read Sasha Grey at first 💀