I Attempt to Copy the Tiny Desk Formula…

I made a live session from zero

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I love Tiny Desks; they’ve become an integral part of my routine. I play my favorites all the time when I’m working. Mac Miller, Olivia Rodrigo, and Post Malone, or in Spanish, C Tangana and Natalia Lafourcade, are a few favorites that I hear on repeat, to list some in no specific order.

I couldn’t help but ask myself… what makes Tiny Desks so special? First, I have to state the obvious… they have a beautiful simplicity. They have become more complex, but going back to their roots, it’s the artist in a small space playing for a reduced audience. Intimate, that’s the word. They feel much more personal than a concert. With the years, artists have found them to be a great platform for expression and artistic freedom. Some highlights for me include Olivia Rodrigo deciding to perform hers at the DMV, which I normally wouldn’t associate with artistic freedom, but that’s kind of the point. Or Mac Miller just being present and making the audience laugh with his awkward charisma. It also helps that they feel like a big milestone the artist has achieved due to the fact that they are produced by a serious network like NPR.

I was compelled to make my own live session inspired by Tiny Desk. I had a few problems: I had no musician to record, I don’t have all the necessary equipment…