Kisha Ravi/NPR
Alicia Keys Performs for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
Alicia Keys makes her Tiny Desk Concert debut.
Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, the 15-time Grammy-winning songstress paid a visit to NPR’s studio for the long-awaited performance, which was filmed back in February.
Seated at a piano in the middle of the “smooshed” space (“It’s really a tiny, tiny desk”), she kicked off the four-song set with “Show Me Love,” backed by her band and two backup vocalists.
While she has played on some of the world’s biggest stages, Alicia felt right at home in the confined space. “Me and the crew, we’re feeling so warm and cozy,” she told the crowd. “It feels so good to just be in an intimate space and connect with you. There’s nothing that I love better than the intimacy in a personal space.”
She got up from the piano to debut a brand new song called “Gramercy Park” from her upcoming album ALICIA, which is about her struggle to appease people and forgetting to set boundaries. “We’re so concerned with how everybody else feels and we’re so concerned with just making other people happy, and so it’s definitely been something that I’ve personally experienced,” said Alicia.
She kept the feel-good vibes coming with “Underdog,” which has become an anthem for the everyday heroes in the wake of the pandemic. To cap it all off, she thrilled the crowd by taking it back with her 2001 debut single “Fallin’.”
Alicia’s seventh studio album ALICIA, her first since 2016’s Here, was set for release in May, but is now due in the fall.