Tiny Desk Contest Family Hour

The 2021 Tiny Desk Contest has officially opened for entries! If you've ever dreamed of playing a Tiny Desk concert of your own, now's the time: Send in a video of you performing behind your desk, and you might get to play behind mine.

To kick off another year of searching for the greatest undiscovered artists in the country, we hosted a virtual event called Tiny Desk Contest Family Hour. For the first time ever, we brought together all of the previous Tiny Desk Contest winners — that's Fantastic Negrito, Gaelynn Lea, Tank and the Bangas, Naia Izumi, Quinn Christopherson and Linda Diaz — for some music and celebration. Each of our previous winners shared a performance of the song that won them a ticket to the Tiny Desk and some great new music, plus talked about what winning the Contest has meant to them.

In this episode of All Songs Considered, you'll hear those performances and more — including my conversation with Gaelynn Lea and Tarriona "Tank" Ball of Tank and the Bangas about their experiences winning the Contest. Tank and Gaelynn share what made them want to enter, how they chose the songs they submitted and what has changed in their lives since winning.

You can learn more about the Contest at npr.org/tinydeskcontest. When you're ready to enter, create a new video of you playing one original song (at a desk!) and upload it to YouTube; then, fill out our entry form. If you've still got any questions, you can check out the Contest's official rules and FAQs, or read this helpful checklist to make sure your entry is eligible to win.