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The Tiny Desk Concert, also known simply as Tiny Desk, is an NPR Music series created by All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen that showcases the raw musical ability of musicians all over the world. This one-off idea of inviting artists to perform live at Boilen’s literal tiny desk grew into a national phenomenon with over four hundred participating artists, seven thousand followers on Instagram, and one billion views on YouTube.
Tiny Desks will make you smile bigger than you would if you saw some of these artists live. Seeing your favorite artist up close and personal rather than hundreds of feet away can have you cheesin’ all day long! And discovering an artist that you never dreamt of listening to could be a gateway into a whole different era of your personal music taste.
All in all, these videos have personality – hearing an artist live for the first time, feeling just how well a band meshes together, seeing a singer make a mistake, and then laughing at that mistake. Tiny Desks never fail to put a smile on my face. While the news may bring us down these days and leave us feeling dejected, we’ll go through five Tiny Desks that will help us smile for a while.
1. Gregory Porter
Opening with his song, “No Love Dying” Gregory Porter solidifies the mellow and soothing tone of his Tiny Desk. His hypnotic baritone voice encases the listener in pure comfort, leaving us craving a heavy hot chocolate and a nook by a rainy window. He says after his first song,
“If there’s any trouble in your house, there will be no love that’s dying here for you and me.”
This Tiny Desk aired four years ago, long before shelter-in-place and COVID-19 were around. Porter’s way of singing with an unwavering smile and kind eyes reassures us that there are better days ahead.
His next two songs, “Take Me to the Alley” and “Don’t Be A Fool” reverberate with social commentary and new perspectives on love. Porter’s performance of “Take Me to the Alley” swells with the lyric “Rest in my garden, you will have a pardon,” implying strong Christian imagery. Regardless of religious background, hearing these words come from such a rich and confident voice will soothe the soul and bring you peace. Porter’s Tiny Desk teaches the listener to have joy despite death, heartache, and betrayal, which is a sentiment we can all relate to now.
2. Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals
Almost the total opposite of Gregory Porter’s soothing, minimal performance, Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals offer a multi-layered groove session with their Tiny Desk Concert. Anderson .Paak’s gritty vocals with the Free Nationals’ soulful style are a non-stop joyride. Decked out in shades, .Paak and each member of the Free Nationals display their undeniable musical talent while swaying and jamming casually as if they weren’t making pure magic.
Their first song, “Come Down,” ends with endearing banter between .Paak and guitarist Jose, making the whole office (and me in my room) chuckle. The personable aspect of Tiny Desk really shines through when the artists are unafraid of cracking jokes and making mistakes. The editor’s choice of including these flukes in the final cut invites the viewer to come along for the ride and feel like we’re actually there laughing with the band.
NPR has crowned this Tiny Desk as the most popular in the series, and they are well-deserving of that title. Viewed more than forty-million times, this four-year-old tiny Desk keeps people coming back. If .Paak’s smile isn’t infectious enough, his skillful musicianship, undeniable swag, and light-hearted personality will definitely lift your spirit.
3. Sesame Street
A hard turn from Anderson .Paak’s NSFW Tiny Desk comes good ol’ wholesome Sesame Street. Of course this is one you have to smile at. The gang doesn’t open their set with the usual fade into a song; they start with the Count introducing their Tiny Desk and beginning a countdown with the NPR kids. The first song in their set is the well-known theme song of Sesame Street, “Sunny Days.”
Rosita and Elmo chime in with their recognizably friendly voices as the rest of the cast joins in. It’s almost impossible not to sing along! The gang finishes and Grover engages the kids, and admittedly the adults, with a cute skit about the NPR office looking different than their usual Sesame Street neighborhood: a smooth transition into the song, “People In your Neighborhood.”
Two songs later, the cast of Sesame Street ends their set by inviting everyone to join in singing, “Sing.” The song is so iconic that my 60-year-old immigrant mother could sing it word for word. And she did when I played this Tiny Desk for her. Almost everyone has a special memory with Sesame Street, and we know that music can bring us back to sunnier days. Although filmed from a lower angle to accommodate the height of our monsters, my spirit was left higher than ever and my face beaming.
4. Jacob Collier
If you aren’t familiar with Jacob Collier, he’s a 25-year-old musician with a lifetime’s worth of musical talent that will make your head spin. He’s also had endless collaborations that will make you think, “How did Jacob get a hold of them?” His Tiny Desk Concert is a perfect reflection of his incredible talent and sparkling personality. After his first song, he explains to the NPR office,
“I spent the last year or so making four full-length albums. Don’t know why, but it’s good fun.”
His casual approach to making music and obvious joy in composing and playing is something so special to experience.
His last song, “It Don’t Matter” calls for audience participation, which is usually a sure way of getting everyone to enjoy themselves. But if you don’t enjoy clapping or being pulled in by a catchy hook, then Jacob’s quick switches from piano, to melodica, to scatting, to singing, to expressively hitting the drummer’s high hat will definitely make you smile!
5. Tank and the Bangas
Last but certainly not least is my all-time favorite Tiny Desk Concert: Tank and the Bangas. Clocking in at a whole twenty-three minutes and forty-eight seconds, I never imagined myself watching the whole video when I could have been watching an episode of my favorite show. But this Tiny Desk grabbed my attention and kept it. This New Orleans based band combines R&B, jazz, and spoken word unlike any other band before them.
Tank and the Bangas’ colorful music, fun energy, clever lyrics bring out the free spirit in everybody. The band has an incredible dynamic that is impossible to pull your eyes away from. Even when stopping to introduce each member, lead vocalist Tariana “Tank” kept on singing with an impromptu melody that often gets stuck in my head. But song after song, the band keeps laughing, smiling, joking, and playing. Each member bounces off the energy within the band and within the room, making everyone involved feel like a part of this robust group of musicians.
Isn’t that something that makes everyone happy – a sense of belonging, connection with other people? The last song “Rollercoasters” never fails to make me cry happy tears. This song about falling in love literally makes me feel like I’m flying. Tank and the Bangas earned their spot as the 2017 Tiny Desk Contest winner and definitely earned a spot in my heart.
Music To Make You Smile
The producers of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts know that music can have a strong effect on people, and they excitedly offer a peek into different cultures, genres, and lifestyles through the diverse musicians they showcase. As they continue to release creative and uplifting live performances from popular and underground artists alike, people around the world can share in their joy, take part in the love of music, and smile for a while.