Video of the Day: Sevana – NPR Tiny Desk

Sevana performs NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series (at Home Edition).

Sevana (born Anna-Sharé Blake), is a Jamaican soul and reggae singer. She chooses her artistic nickname after the town she was born in – Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica. The reggae songstress got her musical break back in 2008 with a girl group called SLR after landing third place on Digicel Rising Stars, Jamaica’s version of American Idol. Then the band broke up. She resumed her journey in 2014 featuring on Protoje single Sudden Flight, and became a part of his In.Digg.Nation collective. In 2016, she released her first self-titled EP featuring six tracks, end went on her first European solo tour. Her second EP, Be Somebody, focuses on the themes of self-reflecting, personal growth, love and relationships. 

Today NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series (at Home Edition) premiered her concert with her six-piece band. She shot and recorded this concert at the Kingston Creative Hub back in September 2020 (the interludes you'll hear about the pandemic are reflective of that time). Sevana showcases her vocal range by jumping delicately between traditional R&B, Caribbean gospel and soul, with touches of reggae, performing only four songs If You Only Knew, Blessed, Be Somebody, and her most recognizable track, a dancehall-influenced love song Mango. 

Watch below Sevana performs NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series (at Home Edition):