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The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

Bobby Carter | January 8, 2021
I don’t recall any other artist at the Tiny Desk harmonizing their own introduction, but Philadelphia’s own Jazmine Sullivan didn’t waste a second, greeting us all by flexing those once-in-a-generation chops from the jump. The singer-songwriter, draped in a trench coat while her band sports all black, are nestled in the corner of a dimly lit space resembling a cabaret.

We don’t see or hear much from Jazmine Sullivan until she has something to get off her chest. She drops a body of work every five years or so, shakes up the world of R&B with each offering, then quietly goes back to minding her own business. Her latest project, Heaux Tales, is a bold and timely conversation piece addressing truths regarding relationships, sex, social norms, self-worth and a myriad of other topics that women graple with. Each song is masterfully connected to another through unique yet familiar testimonies by women from all walks of life.

She starts her Tiny Desk (home) concert with three extended and reworked selections from Heaux Tales, squeezes in thee fan favorite from 2015’s Reality Show, then invites Tiny Desk alum H.E.R. to the stage to close with “Girl Like Me.” Ms. Sullivan, her background vocalists and H.E.R. ate this performance up and left not a crumb on the floor.

SET LIST
“Bodies (Intro)”
“The Other Side”
“Lost One”
“Let It Burn”
“Girl Like Me” (featuring H.E.R.)

MUSICIANS
Jazmine Sullivan: vocals
H.E.R.: vocals
Alisa Joe: vocals
Natalie Curtis: vocals
Ayana George: vocals
Dave Watson: drums
Simon Martinez: guitar
Jermaine Blandford: bass
Eric Wortham: keys

CREDITS
Video: Mansa Twin Johnson, Mignotae Kebede, Evan Morsell
Audio: Chauncey Burney
Creative Director: Amaya Segura
Set Design: Matthew Englebert
Executive Producer: Omari Williams

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Video Producer: Maia Stern
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Morgan Noelle Smith
Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann