Kehlani Gets Emotional During Career-Spanning NPR Tiny Desk Show: ‘It’s Been a Long Time Coming’

Kehlani ‘s been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. After easing the audience in with the smooth R&B of “Nights Like This” from their 2019 mixtape While We Wait , the Oakland-bred vocalist — backed by a full live band and three back-up singers — told the public radio audience crammed in around her about the journey to this special moment.

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“Hi everyone. Thank you for coming and tuning in to my Tiny Desk. It’s been a long time coming. I definitely know I’m overdue for doing this so thank you for making sure I was able to get here this far along in my process,” they said before easing into the 2016 Grammy-nominated jazzy slow jam “Distraction” from her debut album, SweetSexySavage .

Next up was the sexy soul burner “Can I” the fourth single from Kehlani’s second album, 2020’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t , on which she sings, “This s–t’s so good, should be illegal/ Need round two, I need a sequel/ Hit the backboard like a free throw/ You next level, you a cheat code.” Taking a break to chat up the gathered NPR staffers, Kehlani stumbled over their words, admitting they were “naturally shy” and kind of nervous — which is why it took so long to pull up to the Desk — as they made a political statement.

“I want to take a second to say: Free Palestine. Free Congo. Free Sudan. Free Yemen. Free Hawaii. Free Guam,” said the vocalist who announced in June that she’d raised more than $555,000 in aid for the Palestinian people and citizens of war-torn Sudan and Congo with the sale of shirts from her “Next 2 U” single. “Beyond a cease fire 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, to use their voices.”

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The set then came to close with the jaunty “After Hours” from Kehlani’s most recent album, CRASH .

Watch Kehlani’s Tiny Desk Concert below.

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