The annual nationwide competition hosted by NPR Music has attracted songs from veteran acts as well as fledgling singer-songwriters. Watch all the video entries at Local Spins.
Video Stars: And 2025 Tiny Desk Contest contestants.
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The NPR Tiny Desk Contest entry from Grand Rapids’ Jack Droppers & The Best Intentions seems to perfectly encapsulate the celebratory flurry of songs and videos submitted by Michigan bands and solo acts this year: “Welcome to the Party.”
That “party” boasts a record number of attendees: Michigan artists from the Upper Peninsula to Detroit to Grand Rapids and beyond have submitted more than 150 entries into this popular annual contest.
Many of the songs come from veteran, familiar acts such as Droppers, Annie Bacon, Laura Rain & The Caesars, The Gasoline Gypsies, Kyle Brown, Peter Madcat Ruth & C.A.R.Ma Quartet, Elizabeth Landry, Jake Stilson, Samuel Nalangira, The Blue Pines and others.
But up-and-coming artists are chipping in as well, including Traverse City psych pop-rock artist Rebekah Jon, Detroit’s Imani Bloom and Grand Rapids’ jazz fusion outfit Candid Antics.
The unusual — and fun — competition asks musicians and songwriters to submit a video playing a song “behind a desk of your choosing” with thousands of entries submitted each year. The deadline for submissions was Feb. 10, with the winner still to be chosen. As NPR puts it: “We’re looking for undiscovered talent; you can’t have a current recording contract.”
The winner will get to play a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR in Washington D.C., be featured on “All Things Considered,” play the 10-city Tiny Desk Contest “On the Road” tour and get paired with a mentor in the music industry.
Here are the Michigan entries, based on a search at NPR Music of those who cited the Mitten State as home. It’s a terrific way to explore the state’s robust and eclectic music scene.
Are you a Michigan artist who submitted a video/song to the Tiny Desk Contest and it’s not listed here? Email info@localspins.com with the YouTube link, the name of your act and where you’re based, and we’ll add it to the roster.
Videos submitted by Michigan artists are viewable at tinydeskcontest.npr.org.
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