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NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest is an annual opportunity for a small artist to hit it big. The contest gets thousands of submissions (7,500 this year alone!), and although only one act can win, music fans get to enjoy a bevy of songs submitted from across the country.
The rules are simple: Unsigned artists must submit a video performance of an original song, and there must be a desk somewhere in their video. The contest winner gets to perform in Washington, D.C. at the NPR headquarters behind the eponymous Tiny Desk, and gets to tour the country with NPR Music.
Hailing from the Bay Area, Filipina American rapper Ruby Ibarra captured the crown this year, with her trilingual song “Bakunawa.”
“‘Bakunawa’ is performed in three languages (English, Tagalog and Bisaya), and tells the Filipino folklore story of the Bakunawa dragon who swallows the moon. It's also inspired by the birth of Ibarra's first child,” wrote NPR in their announcement.
Ibarra made it to the Tiny Desk for a full performance, which you definitely need to check out now.
Kansas City is a city full of our own artistic and talented folk, so we wanted to round up our favorite local musicians who submitted to the Tiny Desk Contest.
Below, check out some awesome local music from the metro. They’re all winners in our heart. (For even more great up-and-coming Kansas City bands, check out our KC Soundcheck series from Up To Date.)
Kissin
Kansas City artist Kissin’s musical personality is bolder than their stage makeup – which involves blue eyeshadow and a powdered-white face. The artist’s entry to the Tiny Desk Contest, titled “Lesbian Bed Death,” is a pleading, desperate call to be validated by a lover.
“I need to feel desired,” Kissin cries out into the mic, pulling the listener into the emotional stakes of the song as the track builds.
Their voice is nothing short of powerful, and they shred on guitar, too. Their Bandcamp bio describes their music as “dreamy spells of songs,” which feels particularly apt.
Find out more about Kissin’s next performances and music releases on Instagram.
Big Fat Cow
Self-described post-country band Big Fat Cow is quietly making a name for themselves in the pasture. Their Tiny Desk submission is a sweet tribute to American artist Gram Pearsons, and an exemplary blend of genres like country, folk and blues – lead guitarist and vocalist Kole Waters doesn’t believe in “being completely married to one tradition or one genre.”
While the group’s approach blends ideas and traditions from across music’s history, they’re all on the same page while performing. Vocalist Noah Cassity croons into the microphone, twisting and turning his voice like an instrument to reach different peaks and valleys. The group surrounds his voice with a steady drumbeat and twangy, romantic guitar and bass notes.
Big Fat Cow has been performing steadily since 2022, a staple of KC’s DIY scene. Keep up with them on Instagram or their website.
Myself Embodied
Myself Embodied comes to Kansas City by way of Nashville, and she brings with her a truly multifaceted approach to art. The artist describes her sound as “Heal Hop,” an “offspring of Hip Hop and a counterculture to the mainstream fad. It is a communal creation that is ever growing and expanding.”
Myself Embodied’s Tiny Desk offering, titled “Don’t Make No Music,” is a jazzy meditation on demanding respect for your art. Her sharp lyricism is surrounded by a warm hug of sound, with trumpet, keyboard, drumkit and backup singers. The result is a rich and layered experience.
“It took some time to realize that I was so divine,” she declares, and throughout the song, you can feel just how much she believes in herself. Learn more about Myself Embodied at their website, or on Instagram.
Stephonne
Genre-bending musician Stephonne’s Tiny Desk submission, “Everybody Can’t Go,” is an upbeat testament to letting things be as they are. The song is threaded with a mature philosophy about accepting change in life, especially when you have no control over a situation.
The message of the song is driven home by Stephonne’s vocal talent, alternating between hitting clean high notes and then delivering ad-libs straight to camera. The Kansas City, Kansas, artist is known across the metro for stirring up jazz, funk and R&B influences, and still finding room to mix in their own magic.
As they told KCUR’s Up To Date in 2023, they feel the most themselves while performing on stage. "It's not a persona for me. It is fully me and all of my power and agency and autonomy, and it's me taking my sexuality back. It's me owning that freedom, that wholeness of myself."
Stephonne, an alum of Charlotte Street’s residency program, stays performing around the area. Learn where next on their Instagram or Bandcamp.
Nneoma Lanea
Nneoma Lanea is a triple-threat: singer, songwriter and saxophonist. Her song for the Tiny Desk contest, “Sax’n Me,” is silky-smooth, blending all of her talents together with precision.
After a stellar riff on the instrument, her voice doesn’t even waver — it’s crystal-clear when she gets on the mic.
Her Spotify bio describes her as “definitely a Hopeless Romantic and she lets it all out here,” and romantic her music is. “Sax’n Me” has a positively cozy vibe you could cuddle up to.
Nneoma Lanea performs around town often — keep up with her gigs on Instagram or Facebook.
