MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest will crown a 2026 winner soon. This week, we're pulling back the curtain a bit, introducing you to the five finalists here on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. NPR Music's Robin Hilton is one of the judges.
ROBIN HILTON, BYLINE: Every year we do this contest, we get so many singer-songwriters, you know, just a person with their guitar. But this year, by far, the standout in that field was an artist from Denver, Colorado, named Lauren Frihauf. This is her fifth time entering the contest. And the song she sent in this year is called "One Thing Always Leads To Another."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE THING ALWAYS LEADS TO ANOTHER")
LAUREN FRIHAUF: (Singing) One thing always leads to another. Step out of the maze and I wonder how I even got here.
HILTON: I remember when I first heard this song and saw Lauren Frihauf perform it, I thought there is no way she's an unsigned or unknown artist. Like, I would rank this alongside any of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters. Her voice is transcendent. The song is an absolute earworm.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE THING ALWAYS LEADS TO ANOTHER")
FRIHAUF: (Singing) 'Cause you could spend your whole life trying to pin down an answer, to find out it don't really matter.
HILTON: It's probably my favorite of any song in any genre that we heard this year, and it's all about the idea that you can waste so much time trying to find answers to all of life's biggest questions instead of just living and enjoying your life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE THING ALWAYS LEADS TO ANOTHER")
FRIHAUF: (Singing) And then it comes to a head, the truth spills out, and there's nowhere to hide once it hits you as you go scouring the Earth looking for the end to find out it does not exist.
HILTON: So Lauren Frihauf, her work, it has moved us every year she's entered. And I think, you know, to leave your mark the way she does with just her voice and guitar, simple production, to stand out in such a crowded field, that takes a lot, and she just pulls it off so beautifully.
KELLY: So beautifully - that was NPR Music host and senior producer Robin Hilton talking about Tiny Desk Contest finalist Lauren Frihauf. We will meet the other finalists later this week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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