From TikTok Fame to Tiny Desk, Tiny Habits Is a 2022 Breakout Band The student trio unpacks its approach to creating striking vocal arrangements and shares its first studio track, hemenway.
By
John Mirisola
December 1, 2022
Tiny Habits, left to right: Judah Mayowa '21, Maya Rae, and Cinya Khan
Image courtesy of the artist
Tiny Habits first made a name for itself singing in stairways and dorm rooms. The trio, composed of Judah Mayowa '21 and current Berklee students Cinya Khan and Maya Rae, gained a massive audience on TikTok and Instagram over the past year by performing bite-sized acoustic covers of nearly forgotten popular songs in their trademark shape-shifting three-part harmony. Then everybodys like, Oh my God, I forgot about that song! says Judah, adding with a smile: And then they like ours better, 'cause we, you know, add a little harmony to it.
Its been a rapid ascent for a band that started as nothing more than a few new friends singing together in Mayas dorm room and sharing their experiments online. (Itll be cute, Maya remembers them thinking about posting their first cover, Carly Rae Jepsens Call Me Maybe.) But it didnt take long for them to realize they had something special. Every single time we would post a video together, it would be like the most viewed video any of us had gotten, says Cinya. So they created official Tiny Habits accounts on Instagram and TikTok and started posting there.
Soon, these throwback covers began to rack up hundreds of thousands of views, sometimes millions. At one point, they even caught the eye of folk luminary David Crosby, who tweeted about them back in March, I think they are the best new singing group Ive heard.
It was really cool, 'cause hes obviously a part of a trio thats very well-known, says Judah. So I think its cool to get recognition from someone who has kind of done the same thing that weve been doing.
Watch: Tiny Habits performs for Berklees Two Track video series:
A Recipe for Harmony Its hard to describe exactly what makes Tiny Habits sound so compelling. While some of it comes down to the good fortune of three voices that sound nice together, mastering that blend and achieving the kinds of creative harmonic twists featured in all of their arrangements is anything but luck.
Its definitely a lot of trial and error, but I think because weve been doing it for kind of a while now, we know where each of our own voices will sit, and where the other members will kind of take over, says Cinya, describing their arranging process. We start with a pretty standard three-part harmony, and then one of us will figure out some sauce that makes it Tiny Habits.
And whats the secret to that sauce? We love dissonance and crunch, like when notes rub together, says Judah. I think we use that very often.
On top of that, Maya adds, we discovered that our unison is something thats pretty cool. I think its hard for people to achieve a really smooth blend. So the fact that we have that is kind of also part of the Tiny Habits sauce, you could call it.
A smooth three-part unison, balanced with surprising flashes of dissonance and harmonic complexity, all in the space of a verse and a chorus-for these singers, that formula is the result of both instinct and time spent in the classroom.
Those harmony classes... Judah muses. Cinya agrees. A lot of it is just so intuitive that were not really thinking about it, she says, but just knowing about tensions is something I utilize most. Because Judah [will be] like, Oh, add the nine. 13? Try the 11. And so I feel like, as a communication tool, thats pretty helpful.
The View from the Desk Lizzy McAlpine Taps Student Band for Tiny Desk Harmonies
Read more about McAlpines Tiny Desk concert and watch the full set here.
The recognition and opportunities the bands received havent been limited to social media, either. Earlier this year they began collaborating with indie-folk artist Lizzie McAlpine '20 on a few videos, which led to McAlpine asking them to serve as her backing band and create new vocal arrangements for her NPR Tiny Desk concert in November.
It was a surreal experience for the group, playing what was likely their highest-profile gig yet in a Washington, D.C., office building.
It was crazy, because when we were doing it, were facing the other way. So were looking at all these NPR workers and just singing. But then after, there was a picture taken of us behind the desk, and we looked at the picture and thats when it really sank in for us, says Maya. Were like, Oh my God. Thats the background. Thats Tiny Desk.
From the Stairwell to the Studio Of course, theres more to this band than what new forms it manages to make from other peoples songs. All three are songwriters in their own right-Maya and Cinya are both professional music majors with songwriting concentrations (Maya is also concentrating in music business; Cinya in music production). Since the beginning theyve also been working on original material, and when they play live, thats the well theyre drawing from primarily.
The original stuff has definitely been well received, which is really validating, says Cinya. People are just so kind to us.
Now, with the release of its first studio single, hemenway, Tiny Habits are proving to its online following that the bands collective voice doesnt lose its soul on the walk from the stairwell to the vocal booth, and it endures far beyond a 30-second video.
The song began as a project for one of Cinyas classes. She sent it, and she was like, I wrote this for my songwriting class. And then I think that day we just arranged harmonies and decided we loved it and added it to our set, Maya recalls, saying that it wound up being the first track they decided to record in the studio. Its a fully produced track, and we feel really strongly about it. Were really excited for people t
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
The Very Small Creatures
Jaime's Treetop Tales
Emerald
BooSnoo! Christmas Mashup
Pip & Posy's Spooktacular Party
The Very Sm...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
Brand new rewards are coming to Sky customers, with free ...
From TikTok Fame to Tiny Desk, Tiny Habits Is a 2022 Breakout Band The student trio unpacks its approach to creating striking vocal arrangements and shares its first studio track, hemenway.
