Tiny Desk Contest

Last week, we asked fans what their favorite entry from this year's Tiny Desk Contest was — and 10,000 of you voted. We're excited to share that the winner of our Fan Favorite vote is "Go With The Ghost" by nobigdyl.! The band, which is based in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is Dylan Phillips (vocalist), Court Clement (guitarist), EJ Ford (keyboard player), Anton Nesbitt (bassist) and Derrek Phillips (drummer). This is their first year submitting to the Contest.

The fans loved nobigdyl.'s entry — and so did this year's Contest judges. In the second episode of Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf, Tiny Desk alum and judge Durand Bernarr selected "Go With The Ghost" as one of his favorite entries. Bernarr talked with Tiny Desk series producer and host Bobby Carter about "the groove" and "catchiness" of the entry, noting that even though Dylan Phillips doesn't move from his desk in the video, "I was captivated — and that's what I'm always looking for."

Carter also complimented nobigdyl.'s lyrics. "He's talking about the choice between giving yourself away to your vices or really making a change," Carter shared. "He's really going deep." Here's what nobigdyl. has to share about the entry:

I wrote "Go With The Ghost" from a place of surrender. Knowing that the life that I wanted to live would cost me the life I was living. There was a moment where I knew I had to give myself over to my vices or submit to the hard work of trusting God and thus, healing. This song is about that moment and the moments after. It's a song that I hope resonates with anyone on a journey of hearing and choosing God's voice.

Congratulations to nobigdyl. and all of this year's Top Shelf artists! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for when we announce this year's Contest winner: the artist, selected by the judges, who will play their own Tiny Desk concert and headline our Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour this summer.

Enlarge this image

NPR

NPR

NPR Music received nearly 7,000 entries to this year's Tiny Desk Contest — our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist — and we'll reveal the winner very soon. But before we do, we're taking a moment to highlight the breadth of creative, talented unsigned artists who submit to this Contest.

Over the past few weeks, contest judges — the NPR Music producers, Member station DJs, industry experts and Tiny Desk alums who select the winner — have been sharing their favorite entries in our Top Shelf series.

"2024 has been our best year when it comes to the entries — the variety, the quality all around — this decision is gonna be so tough because everybody has just brought it this year," shared Tiny Desk series producer and host Bobby Carter in a recent episode.

Now, we want to hear from you. For the first time ever, you can cast your vote for the Fan Favorite. Catch up on all the Top Shelf episodes and entry videos in this YouTube playlist, and submit your vote below for your favorite of the 45 featured entries. The winner of the Fan Favorite vote will be announced on NPR Music's Instagram.

Top Shelf's favorite entries:

1. Agalisiga Mackey, "Tsitsutsa Tsigesv ᏥᏧᏣ ᏥᎨᏒ"
2. Alejandro Aranda, "Pieces"
3. Ama, "Amarra"
4. Arian, "REALTV"
5. Avangelia, "Breathin"
6. Bandits on the run, "You Are Not A Ghost"
7. Brian Brown, "Free"
8. Casey Ruth Little, "smudge on the lens"
9. Cáthia, "Taza de Café"
10. Charity, "Cruel"
11. Cleo Reed, "SWIM!"
12. Cure for Paranoia "Cure For Paranoia's TiiNY DESK"
13. Danae Greenfield, "Flutterby"
14. DAP The Contract, "Everybody Falls"
15. Daphne Eckman, "acupuncture"
16. Dead Pioneers, "Bad Indian"
17. Eldraco+FreeNation, "Butterflies"
18. Emily How, "Useless"
19. FORAGER, "Haiku Nursery Rhyme"
20. Frail Talk, "little al"
21. George Perkins, "Young George"
22. Janet Noguera, "Amateur Spirit"
23. Jett Kwong, "Ficelle"
24. JoJo DiSalvo, "Ode to Steel and Stone"
25. julie on the internet, "Mercy"
26. Kadie Jacobs, "Rapunzel"
27. Kate Heron, "Are you opening yourself to love?"
28. Keila Myles & The Moose Knuckles, "Suite 21"
29. KHIARA AYABA, "Closer 2 Shore"
30. LORD$, "Try Again"
31. Mae Valerio, "Home"
32. Nafisaria Mathews, "Bye"
33. Nellie, "Garden"
34. Noaa Rienecker, "Apples"
35. nobigdyl., "Go With The Ghost"
36. Ollella, "Tea Kettle Tea"
37. Palmyra, "Shape I'm In"
38. PROMISE., "Me, Myself & I"
39. Rijah, "House In Tattoos"
40. Ronny Cash, "Unspoken"
41. Sally Baby's Silver Dollars, "I've Got No More Tears Left to Cry (Ain't Nobody's Fool But MyOwn)"
42. Southwest Georgia Creatives, "Too Long"
43. Stefan Weiner, "Do Nothing"
44. The Philharmonik, "What's It All Mean"
45. Young Original , "Perfect World"

Voting closes on Monday, May 6, at 11:59 p.m. ET. To learn more about the Contest, and to get tickets for this summer's Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour, visit npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

Your submission will be governed by our general Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As the Privacy Policy says, we want you to be aware that there may be circumstances in which the exemptions provided under law for journalistic activities or freedom of expression may override privacy rights you might otherwise have.

"I don't think it's caught up to me yet — how much my life has changed," says Emma Hardyman, singer of the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest-winning band Little Moon. The Utah-based band recently wrapped up the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour, headlining eight sold-out shows across the country. While on the road, Hardyman caught up with NPR to reflect on the life-changing win and also share the story behind Little Moon's winning song, "Wonder Eye."

Hardyman tells NPR the song was written during the time her mother-in-law was in hospice care. The melody came to Hardyman as she and her husband Nathan Hardyman, who is also part of Little Moon, drove from Utah to Idaho to visit his mother.

During this difficult time, Emma and Nathan Hardyman were also in the process of leaving the Mormon church in which they had grown up.

Tiny Desk

Little Moon: Tiny Desk Concert

"And pretty quickly, just because of the circumstances, I realized that this song, this melody, was about death," says Emma Hardyman, who wrote the structure of the song before asking Nathan Hardyman to write the lyrics.

The couple were also observing the disintegration of many of the building blocks their Mormon belief systems were built on. "I've grieved past versions of myself throughout my whole life," Emma Hardyman shares.

"I really love where Mormonism brought me," Emma Hardyman says. "It introduced me to teachings that are supposed to love everybody, that are supposed to incorporate everybody. [But] it couldn't follow me to how much I wanted to take [those teachings] seriously," she adds, noting that many of the Little Moon band members are queer. She says Mormonism didn't align with how she wants to treat people 'without conditions.'

Emma Hardyman also shares that she had many self-doubts about herself as an artist when she and Nathan Hardyman met — but that he believed in her from their very first date. And in "Wonder Eye," the two even find peace in not having all the answers. Emma sings: "Is there a knowledge that is found not in knowing?" as she's met with the warm hums of the band.

We're getting very close to announcing this year's Tiny Desk Contest winner. Ahead of the big reveal, Contest judge and Tiny Desk alum Sharon Van Etten joined series creator Bob Boilen on the fourth episode of Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf to share her favorite entries — and some advice for this year's winner.

Van Etten's selections feature artists whose music both moved her to tears and filled her with joy. She applauded the entrants for owning their vulnerability and spoke to the healing power of songwriting. She also appreciated the stripped-down nature of these entries — which is what Tiny Desk is all about.

Entries featured in the fourth episode of Top Shelf include:

• Kelly Nickels, "Holy Affliction"
• Crystal Rose, "Mad Black Woman"
• Helmer Noel, "Start Again"
• Kat Wolff, "All My Self"
• Kina Zoré, "Covid 19"
• Naia Lika, "Comforter"
• Alexis Janae, "Foolish"
• M'Lynn, "Safety Net"

You can watch previous Top Shelf episodes in this YouTube playlist. Boilen will host one final episode for the season with our Tiny Desk Contest winner soon. Subscribe to the Tiny Desk Contest newsletter for updates.

On the latest episode of Top Shelf — a series on NPR Music's YouTube channel highlighting the best entries from the Tiny Desk Contest — Contest judges Sudan Archives and Baby Rose shared their top picks. Having both performed Tiny Desk concerts in early 2020, these Tiny Desk alums know exactly what it takes to make a performance shine. Their Top Shelf selections included artists with impressive musicality, direction and breath control — plus songs about mental health challenges and songs "entrants poured their souls into."

Brimming with enthusiasm for these up-and-coming artists, the judges highlighted the following entries in episode 3:

• Rijah, "Up" 
• Yosmel Montejo & La Caliente, "Point Of View"
• The Canterberries, "Small Steps" 
• [REDACTED], "Future Homes" 
• Cure For Paranoia, "Unbothered" 
• Ephraim Bugumba, "Delilah" 
• Daniella Faith, "Seven"
• LORD$, "Speed It Up" 
• Rachel Rose, "Back To The Beginning" 
• Eric Penn, "Catastrophic" 

Next week, singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten will share her favorite entries with Tiny Desk series creator Bob Boilen. You can set a reminder for the fourth episode of Top Shelf here.

This year's Tiny Desk Contest judges will select a winner soon from the nearly 6,000 entries we received — but before they do, they're each sharing their favorites live on YouTube as part of our annual Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf series. In the second episode, Albina Cabrera – Latin American Content producer & host of El Sonido at NPR Member station KEXP – shared her top picks with Tiny Desk series producer Bobby Carter.

Albina shared eight genre-defying entries that included artists singing in multiple languages and often about various forms of liberation, and applauded them for having the courage to enter the Contest. "It's very hard for independent artists to put together a session, to apply and submit their music — it's a very complex process," Albina said.

"I love Top Shelf so much because it's exposure," Bobby added. "The difference between succeeding and no one hearing it is exposure. And this gets those artists that much closer to having a career, to be doing what they love."

Entries featured in the second episode of Top Shelf include:

• OH HE DEAD, "MORE TIME"
• Nakupenda, "Kuongoza"
• alegrías, "Mariposa (Wavy)"
• Varsha, "Woman"
• Lizbeth Roman, "agua que vuelve"
• La Fonda, "Living In The Amazon"
• Juno Lev, "I had gay sex with god (it could've gone better)"
• Little Moon, "Wonder Eye"

You can subscribe to the Tiny Desk Contest newsletter to be reminded before the next episode of Top Shelf, in which Tiny Desk alums Baby Rose and Sudan Archives will share their favorite entries with Carter.

There's a lot we could say about how vast, creative and talented the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest community is — but today, we thought we'd show you instead. With entries filmed in deserts and on mountains, in basements and bedrooms, alongside four-legged friends and more, this supercut video features many of the nearly 6,000 entries we received this year. It's soundtracked by standout artists Buggy Jive, Jovan Landry and Mr. Reed.

To watch all these entries in their entirety, check out the Tiny Desk Contest website. And to be among the first to know when we reveal this year's Contest winner – the lucky entrant who will get to play their own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour with NPR Music – subscribe to the Contest newsletter.

Our ninth annual Tiny Desk Contest brought us nearly 6,000 new artists to discover. (The deadline was March 13, so if you missed it, there's always next year.) Before we reveal this year's winner — a lucky musician or band that will get to play their very own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour with NPR Music this summer — Tiny Desk Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of a livestream YouTube series called Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf.

Tiny Desk series creator Bob Boilen and series producer Bobby Carter kicked things off today, sharing an impressive, eclectic selection of entries from a ton of new artists across the country. "We need more energy at the Tiny Desk," Carter said during the episode. "And I'm feeling that energy 100% [with these entries]."

Featured entries included:

• Los Malcriados, "La Malcriada" 
• Forager, "Can Both Be True?" 
• Giovanni Kiyingi, "Bukunja"
• Vitamin Cea, "Feel That" 
• Brianna Tam, "Scarlet" 
• Young Original, "Doubt Your Love" 
• Velvet Crayon, "Back to Bed"
• Nicolle Horbath, "Florecer" 
• Buggy Jive, "Don't Quit Your Day Job" 

Top Shelf episodes stream on Thursdays at 3 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel. You can set your reminder here for future episodes with Tiny Desk alums Baby Rose, Sudan Archives and Sharon Van Etten, plus KEXP's Albina Cabrera. Join us to discover great new artists, support one another in the live chat, and find out which entries are rising to the top.

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.

Enlarge this image

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

toggle caption

Farah Sosa/NPR

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.