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Our Favorite Massachusetts Tiny Desk Entry
These are the top 21 Tiny Desk Contest entries from Massachusetts
For the past six years, we’ve been running a mini Tiny Desk Contest of our own here at WBUR. NPR shares the Massachusetts entries to the national contest, and our panel of judges come together to choose a local favorite. In 2024, there were a whopping 246 entries from Massachusetts alone — more than we’ve ever seen before.
Suffice to say, the decision never gets any easier. But the process is always a joy. Our judges were blown away by the craft, style and originality of these local entries. Speaking of which, allow me to introduce our wonderful panelists:
- Alisa Amador plays Boston Boricua Chicana Bilingual Emotional Crybaby music, or maybe it should be called Slightly Devastating Pop music, in English and Spanish. In 2022, she won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest for her song “Milonga Accidental.” Amador released her debut full-length album, “Multitudes,” in June.
- Amelia Mason is a senior arts and culture reporter for WBUR. She has been running WBUR's search for our Local Tiny Desk Favorite since 2018. In 2024, she served as a judge for NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest.
- Born and raised in Boston, Noble is a music writer for WBUR. He is also the creator of the vlog The Museum TV, which spotlights Massachusetts hip-hop talent. TMTV has been featured in the Huffington Post, Revolt TV, Dig Boston and more for its work seeking to unify Boston's hip-hop scene.
- Scarlet Keys is a professor at Berklee College of Music and an award-winning songwriter. Some of her former students include Lizzy McAlpine, Charlie Puth and Laufey. Keys is the author of “The Craft of Songwriting: Music, Meaning and Emotion” and “What if it all Goes Right? Practicing Hope in the Hardest Times,” and is the host of the podcast “What’s in a Song.”
- Victoria Wasylak is the award-winning music editor for Vanyaland and a music columnist for The Boston Globe. Her work has also appeared in NYLON, GRAMMY.com, Paste, Down East and Under The Radar, and she has researched and written over a dozen episodes of "DISGRACELAND," the most-downloaded music podcast in the world.
The panel managed to whittle down the field to 21 finalists. Check them out below, and stay tuned for the announcement of our Local Favorite next week!
Anju, "Dragonfly"
Anna Vtipil, "maybe"
Arden Lloyd, "Untitled"
Cammi McDermott & The Gaze, "G*RL"
chrysalis, "pay it forward"
Emily Sangder, "Timelines"
Eph See, "headfirst"
FifteenØeight, "TRUTHFULLY"
Glasshouse, "Slum Village"
Itai, "Joanna"
Kieran Rhodes, "I've Got Superpowers"
Leah Parrett, "Cherry Pie"
Lindsay Foote, "That Kind of Love"
Mercedes Escobar, "Que Me Perdone Chavela (May Chavela Forgive Me)"
Nikhil Dasgupta, "Heaven Knows"
Pearl Scott, "I Can Hate U iF I Want 2 (Better Place)"
Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light, "Katie"
Rijah, "House in Tattoos
Seth Hanson, "Broken Door"
Zaya Marz, "Somewhere Between"
Zola Simone, "Nine Lives"
