My Take: The Power of Music and a Desk.

It’s a monthly practice to watch Tank and the Banga’s Tiny Desk Concert. It is my favorite one. It’s energetic. The colorful outfits, the quick verses, the big hair, the genuine laughs, and the emotion. Oh my goodness, the emotion. It transports you to a different plane where you’ll find yourself singing “Love is for the brave” and wondering what happened to Jazzland in New Orleans(it never opened up after Katrina and is now abandoned). I can imagine those reading this have had a similar experience of being enthralled and transported via a Tiny Desk Concert.

These days, I feel as if it’s almost as if having one is like a rite of passage. Like did you get a Kids Choice Award if you didn’t get slimed? Or going to Iowa to run for elected office? I believe that Tiny Desk concerts have a major impact on our music culture.

If you’re new to this, NPR Music put together Tiny Desk concerts; stripped down, intimate performances where artists and bands perform behind the desk of Bob Boilen (creator and host of NPR’s All Songs Considered). There are no dramatic effects. No PA systems. No big performances. Just an artist their instruments, and a microphone. Vox’s Zachary Corkett has a neat write up about how Tiny Desk concerts have earned a cult following.

Ever since I watched T-Pain blow us away with his natural voice, I have been hooked. During the pandemic, they have become my main form of music entertainment outside of Hamilton the Musical, performing Tori Kelly’s version of Joy to the World, and having worship sessions in my bedroom (more for God than me).

What’s not to love about them. Being set in a literal office, you can’t get more intimate than that. The range of artists is out of this world: Adele, Cory Henry, Lake Street Dive, and many more artists that I have never heard of.

There is research on the impact of Tiny Desk Concerts on an artist mentions. In 2017, Forbes’s Emily Blake using data from Next Big Sound examined this and found that Tiny Desks providing a little more lift than late-night TV Appearances(45% vs. 42%) When you rule out mainstream artists the lift is higher 59% vs. 52 %. You gotta check it out

I think that Tiny Desk provides a clear example of what most people are looking for: authenticity. For example, I put T-Pain and autotune together but listening to him sing, you can see that this is him. You can imagine him singing to himself or in general. When you look objectively at it, there’s nothing too special. Theoretically, anyone can set up a couple of mics and sing from behind a desk but there’s something different. Even with the Tiny Desk (home) series, you get a glimpse of a musician’s element.

In many ways, it can prompt us to think about our own elements and talents and we are transported to a time where we do something we love because we genuinely enjoy it.

We are reminded of what really matters. Thank you NPR Music and Thank you Tiny Desk.

Need somewhere to start? Here are 10 of my favorite ones:

1. Dua Lipa
2. PJ Morton’s (2018)
3. Tank and the Bangas
4. Chance the Rapper
5. Tasha Cobbs Leonard
6. Allen Stone
7. Andra Day
8. Gaelynn Lea
9. YoYo Ma
10. Lianne La Havas

BOUNS: NC A&T’s Student Union Activities Board Tiny Desk Spinoff