Tiny Desk Contest

Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.

Pairs well with: Rocking chairs, western wear

It's hard not to root for someone wearing a light-up cowboy hat. Thankfully Madeleine Kelson and Evan Phillips easily justify this impulse with a moving country ballad about the beauty and mundanity of queer love. Kelson's voice is rich and warm as she croons: "Call me a sinner, and I'll call you a fool / Damn me to hell and I'll break you the news / If I don't get to heaven for loving her true, / God has never loved a woman the way I do." Trading boomboxes under windows for grocery store flowers, "The Way I Do" stands out as a testament to a steadier love that grows stronger year after year, and to that, I say yeehaw and amen.

Hometown: New York, N.Y.

Pairs well with: Penning a love letter to your flirty Trader Joe's cashier; Perfume Genius' Set My Heart On Fire Immediately

Sometimes a song pulls you in with an incredible title, an intriguing first line or an artist's potent emotion. This Tiny Desk Contest entry, "I had gay sex with god (it could've gone better)" by New York artist Juno Lev, does all three. "I saw god in a Trader Joe's / buying organic blueberries / prettiest man I'd ever seen," they begin. Throughout the song, Lev chronicles their love affair with a god who once kissed them in a grocery store parking lot but no longer returns their calls. The desperation in their voice builds over a gentle piano, but their faith doesn't waiver as they beg, "Mom, please don't get upset / cause now I'll be immortalized."

Hometown: Bellevue, Wash.

Pairs well with: A cabin trip with a fire pit for roasting marshmallows and deep talks; healing

Washington singer-songwriter Dalaine's 2023 Contest entry is an ode to the power of healing. Dalaine warms the room with her gentle but striking voice: " 'Cause I've done the battle and the warring with myself / When I'm back in the saddle you know I'll be gunning for more," she sings. The song itself is going through an uphill battle as it starts off slow and melodic but rises in volume and power halfway through as the strings get louder, the drums beat harder and Dalaine dominates the room with her passionate vocals.

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Alisa Amador performs on the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour Farah Sosa/NPR hide caption

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Alisa Amador performs on the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour

Farah Sosa/NPR

We recently reached out to our 2022 Contest winner, Alisa Amador, about writing for the Tiny Desk Contest newsletter. She wrote about how the Contest changed her life and her advice to the Tiny Desk Contest community:

Hi. I'm Alisa (ah-LEE-sah). I won the Contest last year, and I never, ever imagined I would. Not because I don't believe in my art (although I'm sure I'm not alone when I say, sometimes it's freakin' hard to believe in yourself!), but because I never entered the Contest for the purpose of winning. I entered every year for five years because it always introduced me to fantastic artists. It reminded me that I actually wasn't alone — as much as it can seem so when you're an independent musician. There were thousands of other independent artists all over the country, sending in their original music, too.

Since winning the Contest in May 2022, I have toured all over the country, sharing the stage with some of the people I admire most, like Lake Street Dive, Madison Cunningham and Sammy Rae & the Friends; felt overwhelming joy as one of my biggest inspirations, Puerto Rican songwriter iLe, talked about my music on NPR; and played my first tour in the U.K. and Europe. (Also, I just found out that my next show in London is sold out, so I've had to add another show!)

All of this sounds very impressive but, what means the most to me in this new chapter of being a working musician is the community — is how not alone I feel. I really want people to know that the Tiny Desk Contest is a window into a whole community, and that it's the people who make the real difference. I want you to participate in this Contest because it will change your life, even if only in a small, but still significant way. Believing in your art enough to press "send" on the application: That changes your life. When you meet a new friend and source of inspiration through the Contest: That changes your life. When you realize you're not alone in this isolating industry: That changes your life.

I am so deeply grateful for the gifts the Contest has given me — before and after I won. I am about to go on tour throughout the U.S. with Emily Scott Robinson and Violet Bell. I have an amazing team that I trust. I am learning how to take care of myself, believe in myself and fight for a healthier music industry culture.

I've never liked the word "Contest." So, instead of calling it "entering the Contest," let's call it "entering the community." I invite you to enter the Tiny Desk community. Discover artists who inspire you. They might become some of your best friends (that's what happened to me with Cricket Blue, Hayley Sabella and Kaiti Jones). And remember that you are not alone. You are not alone.

Also, music is fun! I'd forgotten that for a while. I'm so grateful to be remembering it now.

The Tiny Desk Contest helped take Amador's music and career to the next level. Could you be next? Enter the Contest at npr.org/tinydeskcontest by March 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Hometown: San Diego, Calif.

Pairs well with: Watching a pastel-colored sunset through an airplane window; new life

I didn't think the music of four-time Contest entrant Jesus Gonzalez could sound even more heavenly — but I was glad to be proven wrong by his 2023 entry, "Forever." Gonzalez's falsetto seems to float over the waltzing harp played by Kalendula Rose and violin played by Jamie Shadowlight. The result sounds like Bon Iver meets Tchaikovsky. And the San Diego-based artist's entry video looks as gorgeous as it sounds: Warm sunlight sprinkles across the room, creating shimmering rainbows on the harp; the instrumentalists' flowing dresses match the room's lace curtains. Gonzalez serves as a pillar in the center of it all, singing, "Let me be the one who delivers the heavens at your door."

Hometown: Springville, Utah

Pairs well with: Staring at a fire and pondering existential questions

"This song is about death :P" Little Moon describes its entry with a playful dissonance that immediately pulls you in. Submitted on opening day, "Wonder Eye" marks the group's confident return to the Tiny Desk Contest, and it's thrilling to see such an assured entry right out of the gate. Staged in a dark red room sprinkled with lit candles, lead singer Emma Hardyman sits on the floor while the rest of the group surrounds her in opposing colors. "Wonder Eye" starts with Hardyman's angelic voice floating above a delicately plucked guitar, but just as you're starting to get comfortable, a sudden shift introduces a heavy guitar, drum and bassline, juxtaposed with dreamy harp and synth keyboard. "Is it a tale that we make true in the telling? / Is there a knowledge that is found not in knowing?" Nathan Hardyman sings, in lyrics that capture the musical contrast. Little Moon explores these clashing questions with harmony and intention. For a song about death, "Wonder Eye" is full of life.

The 2023 Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert, opened for entries at 10 a.m. ET today — and musician Karen Bridges submitted her entry at a cool 10:01. The Bloomington, Ill., singer-songwriter performs her ballad "Break Me Down" while playing a piano (beside a desk) in a dimly lit studio.

"I'm not gonna let you break me / I'm not gonna let you break me down," Bridges repeats, her stunning voice radiating throughout the space with each repetition. She told us the song "was born out of the struggles of being a woman making music in a small midwestern town."

Bridges has now entered the Contest three times, so she certainly knows what she's doing on the video production side — but newcomers, don't let her sharp multi-camera setup discourage you from entering. Our judges, a mix of Tiny Desk producers and artists who have already played the Tiny Desk, will be selecting a winner based on who has the best song. Recording an entry on your iPhone, at your kitchen table, is perfectly fine.

The Contest will be open until March 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Unsigned artists who are 18 years or older and living in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or U.S.V.I. can submit their entries at npr.org/tinydeskcontest. And we'll be featuring more standout entries over the next few months here on the Contest blog, so stay tuned.

Xavier Dphrepaulezz, who performs as Fantastic Negrito, has always wanted to "tell the stories that will make us think; the ones that will make us grow." He entered the first-ever Tiny Desk Contest in 2015 with that dream and a video he shot in one take. And after winning, Dphrepaulezz slowly began to realize how it would change his life — that there would "be a huge spotlight put on" what he was doing, he says. "It was going to be like busking on the streets — on steroids," he laughs.

Since winning the inaugural Contest, Dphrepaulezz has gone on to headline world tours, win three Grammy Awards, release a handful of albums and become a catalyst for creativity in his local Oakland community. NPR Music recently caught up with him while on tour for his latest studio album, White Jesus Black Problems.

Dphrepaulezz says the album was inspired by his desire to tell the story of his seventh-generation grandparents, an interracial couple who lived in Virginia in the 1950s. "It was a story of courage, a story of perseverance, a story of inspiration and a story of good old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-something-done," he shares.

One thing that has remained the same since winning the Contest all those years ago: his humility. "I have an attitude of gratitude," says the multi-Grammy Award winner. "I don't expect anything."

"This feels like a moment where I'm restarting, in a way ... a career that I've worked so hard at for so long," says 2022 Tiny Desk Contest winner Alisa Amador, reflecting on what was likely one of the craziest months of her life.

Just a few days after finding out she won this year's Contest, Amador flew from her Boston home to Washington, D.C. for her Tiny Desk concert – the first show at my Desk with an audience in over 2 years. The day after that performance Amador hit the road, headlining our month-long, cross-country Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour.

NPR's video team recently caught up with Amador in Brooklyn at our final tour stop to hear how her life has changed – from the first time she entered the Contest, 6 years ago, to finding out her 2022 entry, "Milonga accidental," rose to the top of the thousands we received. This is her journey.

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Yosmel Montejo performing in Los Angeles Farah Sosa/NPR hide caption

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Yosmel Montejo performing in Los Angeles

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After the winner of the Tiny Desk Contest claims the grand prize — playing an actual Tiny Desk concert — NPR Music takes them on tour across the country. This year's Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour was a victory lap for 2022 winner Alisa Amador, who was met by thousands of new fans, and also showcased local talents in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York, as three Contest entrants performed alongside Amador each night.

Tour began in Washington, D.C. — the city that's home to Bob Boilen's Tiny Desk — with an eclectic lineup of artists from the area. Everyday Everybody kicked off the night with an energetic set; Outerloop kept the energy high performing its loud, invigorating, cathartic songs; and 2021 Contest winner NEFFY put on a breathtaking acoustic performance, including a rendition of her Contest-winning song, "Wait Up."

In Atlanta, O'She Tyght kicked off the show with soulful rap songs, Alto Moon brought the heat with his theatrical set and stunning voice, and Yah Yah and her crew put on a groovy R&B performance that had the whole crowd dancing.

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Yah Yah performing in Atlanta Josephine Figueroa/NPR hide caption

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Yah Yah performing in Atlanta

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In Seattle, Halley Greg and her band played a handful of what they called "bluesy feminist rock songs." Then, in Helmer Noel's first-ever live gig, he dazzled the audience with his exquisite voice and natural stage presence. And Ollella put on a moving performance with her impressive cello looping.

In Los Angeles, Yosmel Montejo and his band kicked off the night with a lively set, and he also had an inspiring message for the audience: "We all came here because of a dream. Don't quit. Just go for it." Jack Rabbit took the stage next, performing songs about heartbreak, friendship and queer joy. And Pocket Queen closed out the night, wowing the crowd with a skillful, drum-heavy performance.

Tiny Desk

Alisa Amador: Tiny Desk Concert

Amador and her band put on joyful, jazzy performances across the entire tour, prompting celebratory encores and standing ovations from fans who'd fallen in love with her heartfelt lyrics and beautiful melodies.

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A.J. Hines of Seratones performing in New York Itzel Alejandra Martinez/NPR hide caption

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Itzel Alejandra Martinez/NPR

A.J. Hines of Seratones performing in New York

Itzel Alejandra Martinez/NPR

Eventually, the tour wrapped up with a night to remember in New York. For the first time ever, a handful of Contest winners performed as part of the same lineup at the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park. Amador kicked off the night, making herself right at home on the biggest stage she's performed on yet. Then, 2020 winner and New York native Linda Diaz took the stage to play her gorgeous R&B songs. Next, Seratones (one of many past entrants who, despite not winning the Contest, have gone on to play the Tiny Desk) took over and rocked the park. And for the grand finale, our first-ever Contest winner and three-time Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito put on an incredible performance, playing the song he won the Contest with and selections from his new album, White Jesus Black Problems.

What was really special to us, besides watching all of their incredible live sets, was seeing these artists support one another: Each artist shouted out the others from the stage, congratulated this year's winner and lifted the Contest and their local music communities up every evening.

The eight winners of the Tiny Desk Contest — our annual search for a great unsigned artist to play a Tiny Desk concert — have all gone on to do great things, from performing on world tours to winning Grammy Awards. Today, we're taking a moment to highlight one of these artists: the beloved Gaelynn Lea, winner of our 2016 Contest. The Duluth, Minn., native won with a video of her song "Someday We'll Linger In The Sun," which she recorded on her phone in the space where she taught fiddle lessons. Gaelynn Lea makes music unlike anyone else. Her beautiful folk melodies are often rooted in the sounds of Irish fiddle tunes. She also has brittle bone disease, which makes it necessary for her to play her instrument in an inventive and unique style.

"The Contest definitely changed my life," Lea told NPR Music last year. Since winning, she's toured the world and co-founded a coalition that amplifies disability culture in the music industry. She's also writing a book. Most recently, she wrote music for the Broadway adaptation of Macbeth – the director of the play first discovered her music from her Tiny Desk concert – which she hopes will help bring disability culture into the mainstream. "Celebrating disability, rather than just accommodating it, is the next step in the journey to really valuing diversity," she says.

NPR's Tiny Desk video team recently met with our 2016 Contest winner during production on Macbeth to hear about her journey from the Tiny Desk to Broadway. We're proud to share that video here today.

It surely was a day of joyful tears. And those joyful tears for Alisa Amador, the winner of the 2022 Tiny Desk Contest, came at a time when she had been considering putting her music career on hold. For the staff of NPR and the Tiny Desk crew, it was our first Tiny Desk concert with an audience in over 800 days, and Alisa's captivating music surely intensified our spinning emotions.

Alisa Amador opened with her Contest-winning entry "Milonga accidental," a song about embracing your contradictions. It's a song that our judges — iLe, Big Krit, Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast), Raveena, Nate Chinen (of member station WBGO), Tiny Desk producer Bobby Carter and I — all found to be so filled with passion. I often fall for a song because of the lyrics, and this is the first Tiny Desk Contest winner whose winning song is in Spanish. Despite the fact that I don't speak Spanish, I felt the conflict, the yearning and the song's questioning.

Alisa grew up in Boston, Maine, Puerto Rico and Argentina, and was raised by Rosi and Brian Amador, her Latin-folk musician parents who play in the band Sol y Canto; they were also in attendance. She's been singing since she was four, and has been entering the Tiny Desk Contest every year since 2018. In fact, the song "Together," which closes this concert, was an astonishing entry from 2020. For COVID safety, we limited the audience to a small group of masked NPR employees, yet the sing-along for the closing track was still powerful.

Alisa also set her winning song to a lovely string arrangement performed by a Washington D.C. quartet and rehearsed for the first time just hours before the performance. The arrangements were originally done by Jamie Oshima after a recording session a few years back, and then Alisa's friend Noah Fishman transcribed the arrangement. For the next three songs, she's joined by Jamie Oshima (guitar, keys), Noah Harrington (bass) and Jacob Thompson (drums, keys).

"When will I know how to decipher my purpose? / When will I feel at home in my voice?" As Alisa sings those words to her winning entry in Spanish at the Tiny Desk, I'm thinking: Perhaps that moment is now.

SET LIST

• "Milonga accidental"
• "Timing"
• "Slow Down"
• "Together"

MUSICIANS

• Alisa Amador: vocals, guitar
• Jamie Oshima: guitar, keys
• Noah Harrington: bass
• Jacob Thompson: drums, keys
• Kristin Bakkegard: violin
• Nick Montopoli: violin
• Paul Bagley: viola
• Carol Anne Bosco: cello

TINY DESK TEAM

• Producers: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Lia Crockett, Elle Mannion
• Audio Recording & Mix Engineer: Josh Rogosin
• Series Producer: Bobby Carter
• Editor: Joshua Bryant
• Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene, Estefania Mitre
• Production Assistant: Jill Britton
• Tiny Desk Team: Michael Zamora, Ashley Pointer, Dwi Partowardojo, Bill Wright, Stacey Foxwell, Maia Stern, Suraya Mohamed
• Tiny Desk Contest Team: Jessica Goldstein, Devon Williams
• VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
• Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

Pocket Queen & The Royal Flush, "WE CAME TO MOVE"

Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Pairs well with: Caipirinhas under the peek-a boo shade of trees

Drummer and vocalist Taylor Gordon (aka The Pocket Queen) delivers a sensual bossa nova track, complete with the flute flirting with us. The song will have you swaying thanks to the groove thrown down by upright bassist Chris Thigpen and guitarist Mauricio Guererro Jr., and lyricist Ryck Jane adds even more flavor when she joins on the track.

Brassville, "Bring Yo' Brass"

Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
Pairs well with: A plate of red beans and rice precariously balanced in your hand while you dance

Who doesn't love a good brass band? The moment drummer Derrick Greene kicks off this song, there is no question that Brassville is about to deliver. With trombonist MarVelous Brown's spirited drawl, swinging horns and a solid rhythm section, every note is designed to entice you to the floor.

Tivon Pennicott, "Off the Cuff"

Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Pairs well with: Childlike giggles while running around a playground

Saxophonist Tivon Pennicott's sly smile invites you into "Off the Cuff." Improvised with looping and a drum machine, Pennicott experiments and builds the song in real time, giving the listener a sneak peek into the joyful process of creation.

Salome Hajj, "Pursuit"

Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Pairs well with: Self-reflection brought on by a solo stroll

Salome Hajj's entry tells a story of recovering from disappointment and growing in the aftermath. Hajj's sultry voice and hypnotic harp are perfectly accompanied by an understated but meaningfully rich performance on the bass and drums from Jermaine Paul and Myles Martin, respectively.

John Ferrara, "Perhaps Everything, Perhaps Nothing"

Hometown: Wickford, R.I.
Pairs well with: Daydreaming while gazing at a stormy skyline as rain drops slide down the windowpane

Bassist John Ferrara makes his five-string bass sing in this solo entry. The myriad of sounds Ferrara pulls from his instrument construct the type of multilayered storytelling you'd expect from more than one musician.

Before we reveal our 2022 Tiny Desk Contest winner, our Contest judges have been sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Top Shelf series. In the second episode, which streamed live on NPR Music's YouTube channel today, Tiny Desk alums Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) and iLe shared their top picks with Bob Boilen.

Zauner and iLe's selections included remarkable guitarists, songs sung in Spanish, a "mind-blowing" bassist and more:

• Pocket Queen & The Royal Flush, "WE CAME TO MOVE" 
• Aubrey Hays, "Love Didn't Hurt You"
• Micah Edwards, "Jean Leon"
• Alisa Amador, "Milonga accidental"
• Raine Stern, "Lydia" 
• Piquete, "Fluir"
• Ollella, "Lava" 
• John Ferrara, "Perhaps Everything, Perhaps Nothing"

The judges also talked about their own experiences playing behind the Tiny Desk. "I remember being very, very nervous," admitted Zauner as she explained how performing without any vocal effects can be a very humbling experience.

iLe said she had always thought she would make her performance perfect if she ever had the chance to perform behind the Desk. But her actual performance wasn't what she was expecting at all, she said – it was even better. "Sometimes it's nice when things go in a way that you don't plan or expect," iLe shared. "You learn new things about it and still enjoy the show."

Bob said one of the nice things about messing up behind the Desk is that the audience (typically made up of staff working at NPR's headquarters) embraces the artist's fragility and appreciates having a special moment with them.

We can't wait to have a special moment with this year's Tiny Desk Contest winner very soon. To watch all the entries to this year's Contest – and be among the first to know when we announce the winner – you can visit npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

Our Tiny Desk Contest judges have a very tough decision ahead of them. After reviewing tons of incredible entries, they need to determine who will be named the winner, and will get to come play a Tiny Desk concert at NPR's headquarters. But before that happens, judges are. Before we reveal the 2022 Contest winner, judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of our annual Top Shelf series.

In today's episode, Bob Boilen (Tiny Desk series creator, Contest judge and host of All Songs Considered) and Bobby Carter (Tiny Desk concert producer and Contest judge) shared some of their favorite entries live on NPR Music's YouTube channel.

Their top picks included entries from a handful of artists who entered the Contest for the first time this year, plus a returning artist who Carter calls "Top Shelf royalty." The featured entries span a variety of genres, styles and locations – hip-hop from St. Louis, a harpist from Los Angeles, folk from Colorado, rock from New York and more:

• Selina Moon, "Let It Go" 
• A Very Special Episode, "Cowboy" 
• Kevonna Rose, "Thirty3"
• dolltr!ck, "In The Blue" 
• Lauren Frihauf, "Fragments of a Stranger" 
• Blvck Spvde and the Cosmos, ""parallel I live again" 
• Sophia Subbayya Vastek, "The Seas That Made Us" 
• Rebirth Canal, "AI"

And these featured entries represent just a fraction of the talent and creativity in this year's entries; it's going to be a tough call for the judges. "I could think of five to 10 people who could win this thing!" says Carter.

You can join us again next week to discover even more new artists live on NPR Music's YouTube channel, where Bob will chat with Contest judges and Tiny Desk alums iLe and Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. Sign up for reminders at topshelf2022.nprpresents.org.

Hometown: Seattle, Wash.

Pairs well with: Running around your childhood playground

The Seattle-based artist Ollella describes her Tiny Desk Contest entry as a "contemplation on playfulness." "Lava" reflects longingly on the days of playgrounds, monsters and mischief, pondering where this playfulness goes as we get older. Ollella's mature voice contrasts with the childlike frustrations about growing up that she describes: "I don't know why you won't follow me / Adults they think they know." This innocence is expressed through the bouncy cello line, paired with floating melodies and keys that evoke nostalgic contemplation. Ollella may know where she's trying to go, or perhaps trying to return to, but can't quite get there: "Catch myself standing still," she sings, "wish I knew how to unfurl." "Lava" serves as a hopeful call to action — a call to reflect and play.