Kehlani — Tiny Desk Concert, 2024

Filmed live for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk series behind the network’s Washington D.C. desk and published on 31 July 2024, this set marks the debut appearance of American R&B and soul singer Kehlani at the celebrated workspace. Across a compact programme, she moves through roughly a decade of material. Stripped of their studio production, the songs lean on acoustic backing and the texture of the voice, in the pared-down spirit that defines the series. The setlist gathers Nights Like This from the 2019 mixtape of the same name, Distraction from the debut album SweetSexySavage, The Way, Can I from 2020’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, and After Hours from the more recent record CRASH. Between songs, Kehlani also speaks on causes she cares about, in keeping with the public advocacy that runs alongside her music. This full concert offers an intimate, unadorned reading of a catalogue usually heard in more layered arrangements, and underlines Tiny Desk’s role as a showcase for contemporary soul and R&B recorded live in Washington D.C. for a global online audience.