On Thursday, June 25, Bob Boilen hosted episode three of Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf. He was joined by Contest judge and host of WXPN's World Cafe Raina Douris, who shared her favorite entries from the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest.
When asked about what she looks for in entries, Douris said, "You have to put on a show that feels big behind a little, tiny desk: Do you jump out? Do you make this little desk feel like a huge, huge stage?" Douris and Boilen invited one artist who made her tiny desk feel like a huge stage into the livestream: Tia P. from Inglewood, Calif.
Tia P. talked about how she approached recording her entry, "151," saying she treated it as if the fans and judges were in the room with her. "I miss doing [live shows] the most. I'm a musician so there's nothing like that real interaction with the crowd," Tia P. said. "My thing was to treat it as if you guys were already here, as if we were doing it live ... I wanted to bring you guys into my world and take you out of quarantine mode."
Douris' favorite Tiny Desk Contest entries included:
You can watch previous Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf episodes and sign up to be reminded about upcoming episodes at topshelf.nprpresents.org.
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