Kehlani’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” debut is finally here. On Wednesday (July 31), the singer dropped by NPR’s office to do a live rendition of their greatest hits.
The singer-songwriter opened with “Nights Like This,” a standout cut from 2019’s While We Wait, before segueing into “Distraction” from their debut album, SweetSexySavage. Aftward, they moved onto a soul-drenched edit of “The Way” with the help of their backup vocalists: Karyn Porter, Chelsea West and Jasmine Patton.
After performing “Can I,” the Bay Area artist paused to issue a statement: “I want to take a second to say free Palestine. Free Congo. Free Sudan. Free Yemen. Free Hawaii. Free Guam.” They later urged, “Beyond the ceasefire, we need an end to the occupation. It’s deeper than this. I need everybody that’s here right now, everybody that’s watching to step up [and] use their voices.”
Kehlani then concluded with “After Hours” from their most recent LP, CRASH. Watch the full video below.
Shortly after the performance aired, social media shared their reactions online. Given the R&B star’s extensive discography, many fans questioned why it couldn’t have been longer — their set only lasted just under 15 minutes. “I wanted [it] to be an hour, but I’ll settle for the shortness,” one Twitter user said.
“[You] can tell Kehlani was nervous, but [they] still sounded heavenly. Yeah, this is my favorite ‘Tiny Desk,’” another shared. Elsewhere, someone enthusiastically wrote, “I’m gonna need a Kehlani ‘Tiny Desk’ every month with new versions of every song from now on.” Continue scrolling to see what others said.
Kehlani is scheduled to begin their “CRASH WORLD TOUR” in September with Anycia and FLO joining them as supporting acts.
The artist is also expected to appear on Jordan Adetunji’s “KEHLANI (REMIX)” on Friday (Aug. 2). The original track has over 23 million YouTube views to date and debuted at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart earlier in the month.