Yasmin Williams performing on the Tiny Desk earlier this 12 months.
Sofia Seidel/NPR
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Sofia Seidel/NPR
Hey y’all, I am Yasmin Williams, a guitarist from Northern Virginia and a two-time Contest “loser.” It is humorous to be scripting this now, on the heels of what’s now my second official Tiny Desk live performance. A lot has occurred for me in simply this previous week: I used to be featured in The Washington Put up on the quilt of the weekend part; I carried out on Stephen Colbert’s internet collection for The Late Evening Present; and I am at the moment on a headline tour across the East Coast! It is now dawning on me how all these occasions are serendipitously related to my two Tiny Desk Contest entries.
In 2018, after I entered the Contest for the primary time, I by no means actually considered profitable. I knew that there have been actually 1000’s of people submitting their greatest materials and I simply needed to be amongst them. Moreover, I used to be much more excited to be releasing my debut album, Unwind, later that spring, even when I did not anticipate anybody to take heed to it outdoors of mates, household and some early supporters I had on my musician Fb web page.
Although I did not find yourself profitable the Contest, my entry was well-received sufficient that I used to be featured on NPR’s Weekend Version which was thrilling and actually stunning. I had a stunning interview with host Scott Simon, and performed a few unique songs on the air.
Afterward, Scott advised me about one thing he referred to as the “NPR bump,” the place a comparatively unknown artist will get a barrage of recent listeners after being featured on an NPR program. I assumed this would not apply to me. I used to be extraordinarily incorrect on this assumption! After my interview with Scott, my album Unwind, went from, actually, No. 255,801 on Amazon’s paid albums chart to No. 6, with a proportion bump of three,603,685%. On iTunes, it went from anonymity to No. 1 on a number of charts. It even landed on the Billboard Heatseekers chart at No. 15.
Most significantly, the royalty cash I obtained from the “NPR bump” allowed me to purchase my first customized guitar, which remains to be my major instrument. I used to be additionally featured on one other nice NPR video collection referred to as Evening Owl later that very same 12 months, which helped get my music in entrance of much more of us. None of this might have occurred had I not entered into the Contest that 12 months.
I entered once more in 2020 and, once more, didn’t win. Nonetheless, I used to be one among 5 artists featured on the High Shelf collection and received to talk with Brittany Howard on Zoom about how a lot she appreciated my entry. To me, that was principally pretty much as good as profitable the Contest! Funnily sufficient, late final 12 months, I opened for Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka on an unbelievable month-long tour. I reminded her concerning the High Shelf name and she or he stated that she had been following me since then and that is how I received the tour slot. It is wonderful how issues come full circle whenever you least anticipate it!
My Contest experiences have been completely life-changing. Despite the fact that I am technically a two-time loser, I do not really feel like I misplaced in any respect. So, in case you get nothing else from studying this: Please perceive that you simply solely actually lose in case you do not strive. Maintain pushing, y’all! Keep true to your self, do not lose your integrity and know that, even when one thing appears like a loss, it will probably reveal itself to be the factor that modifications your life for the higher.
