Now that we're back to recording Tiny Desk concerts in the office, home concerts mostly happen under special circumstances: when the artist is overseas, for example, or otherwise unable to get to Washington, D.C., when we're recording. Given that BTS's RM (aka Kim Nam-joon) is based in South Korea, we let it slide — not least because his team put together one of the most impressive Tiny Desk facsimiles we've seen yet. What really sets it apart is the huge array of shelf-bound ephemera, which is bound to have the BTS Army sleuthing in the YouTube comments. What's a random tchotchke and what's an Easter egg? Study the set closely!
RM timed his solo Tiny Desk debut — which follows BTS's home concert from back in 2020 — to coincide with the release of his first official studio album, Indigo. But he kicks off the set with an older track, "seoul," which first appeared on his 2018 mixtape mono. From there, he showcases the first two tracks from Indigo: the rap-driven "Yun" and the funky "Still Life," both of which are inspired by RM's love of and fascination with painting. The studio tracks feature Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak, respectively, both of whom get shoutouts in this set. But here, the focus never drifts away from the star at center stage — no matter how closely you might squint at the stuffed animals, housewares, clocks and toys (not to mention Big Mouth Billy Bass!) behind him.
Now, if we can just get him to visit the real Tiny Desk...
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TINY DESK TEAM
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