Neffy, 'Wait Up'

This #NowPlaying discovery comes to us from this year's Tiny Desk Contest. You can see Neffy on the latest installment of the Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestreaming series with guest host Phoebe Bridgers.

Since the pandemic began, many have sought out nature as refuge from congested cities, but few have expressed that longing as eloquently as Arlington, Va.-based artist Neffy. She wrote "Wait Up," the song from her 2021 Tiny Desk contest entry, about fleeing a mentally-taxing city and returning home with hopes of being embraced by "the rivers that raised [her]." Her potent, breathtaking voice awakens listeners in the song's opening lines and is later celebrated with an encore of her own harmonizing loops. On "Wait Up," Neffy showcases honest songwriting and emotion-driven vibrato while making a case for welcoming tenderness and vulnerability.

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