Tiny Desk Contest decide Bobby Carter introduces us to finalists The King Will Come, a 15-member group primarily based in Utah.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The judges for this yr’s Tiny Desk Contest needed to kind by hundreds of entries to choose 5 finalists. This week, on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, we get to fulfill these finalists. Here is the newest from Tiny Desk host and sequence producer Bobby Carter.
BOBBY CARTER, BYLINE: You already know, as a decide of the Tiny Desk Contest for just a few years now, the No. 1 query I often get, and most of us get, is what are we on the lookout for in a contestant? And like clockwork, we form of say the identical factor – however it’s nonetheless true – that we’re on the lookout for one thing that we have by no means seen or heard earlier than. We’re trying typically for issues that we do not even know we wish. And that is what we acquired on this tune known as “Welcome” by a Utah group known as The King Will Come.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WELCOME”)
THE KING WILL COME: (Singing) Come on. Welcome. Welcome to the dominion. Come on in. You might be welcome. Welcome to the dominion. Oh, welcome to the…
CARTER: It’s, at its core, worship music. It is gospel, however it additionally blends a ton of various genres. It is soulful. The lead singer – a minimum of the one that takes the lead on this tune, Tamy – it feels very acquainted in – when you concentrate on the vocals and the soul and the singing half and the harmonies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WELCOME”)
THE KING WILL COME: (Singing) Now I am woke up. You took the solo and gave me objective.
CARTER: However Tamy does one thing actually, actually particular right here. She begins spitting bars out of nowhere and begins to mix and coast out and in of singing with rapping. And I used to be simply blown away by this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WELCOME”)
THE KING WILL COME: (Rapping) You lifted me up. Love the way you wipe me down. An interception when life throws me round. And no regrets saying, sure, I am lastly discovered.
(Singing) You lifted me up, broke my curses.
CARTER: This group, The King Will Come, it is comprised of individuals from all walks of life, all religions, all ethnic backgrounds. And hear, clearly, this – we’d like extra of this in our world right now. So I used to be simply tremendous, tremendous delighted to see it close to the highest with the competition this yr. So once more, when individuals ask me what we’re on the lookout for, I am trying to be moved, and I feel this tune, “Welcome” by The King Will Come, moved me in a profound approach.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WELCOME”)
THE KING WILL COME: (Singing) You might be welcome.
KELLY: That was NPR Music’s Bobby Carter speaking about Tiny Desk Contest finalists The King Will Come. You possibly can watch their entry, and lots of extra, at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.
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