Neffy, 2021 Tiny Desk Contest Winner: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen | October 27, 2021
It felt good to be home, if only for one night: home, in this case, being my Tiny Desk at NPR. We were about to film Neffy, our 2021 Tiny Desk Contest winner, at my desk at NPR headquarters. My corner of the NPR Music department looked just as I had left it almost 600 days ago; it's eerie inside and nearly nightfall outside. There's no audience for this Sunday evening concert, just our five-person Tiny Desk crew.

We had filmed almost 1,000 Tiny Desk concerts before we abandoned the office in mid-March of 2020. What was then exciting yet routine now felt somewhat like a hallucination.

For Neffy, it too was a dream: — a dream come true. Her joy during the recording was contagious. Neffy is Mecca Russell, a young singer who grew up around Arlington, Va., just across the river from NPR. Her Contest-winning song "Wait Up" is about living in New York, most recently during the COVID-19 outbreak, but yearning for home. In fact, Neffy did return to her childhood home, where she recorded her winning song with just her heartfelt voice and her guitar.

"I wrote 'Wait Up' like many other songs I've written: sitting on the edge of my bed. But I didn't know it would be the song that would change my life," Neffy told us. "I got to sing lyrics I wrote in the privacy of my room late at night to a vast and loving audience is beyond my wildest dreams. For that, I am incredibly grateful, and quite frankly, still in disbelief."

We hear three more songs from Neffy during her Tiny Desk concert. It's a small window into an outstanding talent, and we're so proud to share this extraordinary moment.

SET LIST
"Like You Did"
"Wait Up"
"What If"
"Hangin' On Too Long"

MUSICIANS
Neffy: vocals, guitar

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Elle Mannion
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern
Editor: Maia Stern
Tiny Contest Team: Jessica Goldstein, Marissa Lorusso
Tiny Production Team: Bobby Carter, Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis
Creative Director: Bob Boilen
Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#nprmusic #tinydesk #neffy
Bre Anderson : I want all the tiny desk sessions on Spotify. Don't change them, leave them just as we hear them on YT. Gratitude✨
Cynthia Portalatin : Loved this! Neffy's music style reminds me a little of a young Tracy Chapman. Thought provoking and melodious. Beautiful!
Damiano Caniglia : I’m literally sitting here at the river stretching and listening to your tiny desk. I’m in tears. ❤️❤️ what a special song.
Christina I. Murcia : Never has a person looked so radiant and at home at tiny desk. so beautiful to see. Home is where the love is and that room looks like it was filled. <333333
Chanell J. Wilson : Congrats! I love Neffy's voice. I hear Lauryn Hill, Beyonce , Adelle , and Tracy Chapman in Neffy's timbre and sound
Very beautiful style music vibe Spirit and execution. I enjoyed this performance.

Neffy - Like You Do | Sofar NYC

Neffy performing “Like You Did” at Sofar New York on August 13th, 2016. We put on more than 70 shows every month in New York, see upcoming dates and sign-up for tickets here: https://www.sofarsounds.com

Host a Sofar show https://www.sofarsounds.com/about/hosts

See the full list of show dates here: https://www.sofarsounds.com/nyc

(Sofar Sounds New York, Show #4187)

Find us on Facebook and Twitter for more information -
https://sofar.co/facebook
https://sofar.co/facebookNYC
https://sofar.co/twitter
https://sofar.co/twitternyc

Artist: Neffy
https://soundcloud.com/mecca15

For a new gig every day, along with playlists, features and more, subscribe to Sofar here: https://sofar.co/subscribe

Filmed by: AJ Giambrone, Baraa Kitri, and CJ Harvey

Edited by: AJ Giambrone

Audio by: Mike Haldeman
Aisha : Beautiful voice!
bonnie lyke : Gosh I just love her- Neffy’s voice.
BIBAH331 : Why isn’t Neffy FAMOUS ?!?! She should already have a record deal, sponsorships, she should be insta famous and have millions of followers ❤️ Neffy is REAL, TRUE TALENT !!! - MRS. E.E. ZAYAS 331
Егор Первый : wonderful voice
elisa gurnia : My Mother is called Judit and I hear her name in this song so much and it just fits right in there somehow. We’ve had an abusive past, mostly when I was younger. It was pretty sad. A very complicated duality of pain and maternal love that my young heart couldn’t handle back then. This really reflects the unmet desire of having a loved one that fulfills the longings of your empty spaces. Anyway, great performance Neffy! Like always.

Neffy - LIVE | Sofar NYC

Keep Listening | Support artists around the world by watching live shows from Sofar Sounds' online listening room.

Stay connected with Neffy:
https://www.facebook.com/neffymusic
http://soundcloud.com/mecca15
https://twitter.com/byneffy
_________________________

Sofar Sounds connects artists and music lovers around the world through intimate shows in 460+ cities across the globe. While IRL shows are currently on hold, Keep Listening helps artists broadcast live shows from their living room to yours.

Find more artists like Neffy in the listening room every day: https://www.sofarsounds.com/v/listeningroom

Subscribe to Sofar on YouTube for new music: https://sofar.co/subscribe

#StayHome #WithMe
_________________________

Stay connected with Sofar!
https://sofar.co/facebook
https://sofar.co/twitter
https://sofar.co/instagram
Sofar Sounds : Neffy's setlist:
1:02 I Don’t Miss You
5:35 What If
11:28 Like You Did
18:08 I Wanna Dance With Somebody/Dancing On My Own
26:00 [Unnamed new track]
35:15 I Won’t Sleep
42:31 Blindsided


Tune in for daily live streams with more amazing artists at https://sofar.co/listening-room!
Monostripe Explosive Explorations : Wonderful, thank you. Stay healthy and all the best to all you New Yorkers from Europe
Fernanda Santos : Sua voz é incrível.
Coloca o fone de ouvido dentro do violão, a captação de som melhora muito.
Paila Gómez : Ah Dios Mío que talento... Cantas hermoso... Tus canciones son hermosas... Me encanta... Una fan desde Zacatecas México te manda un abrazo infinito... Nunca te detengas... Eres genial eres única
TheShauNanigans : Congratulations on winning the Tiny Desk Contest! You are a joy to listen to. Sending you peace and love.

...