To celebrate the 20th anniversary of her debut album, Complex Simplicity, Teedra Moses came draped in all red, the same color she wore on the album's cover. She couldn't wait to get into the office and sing. Admittedly, I held off from formally inviting her to play the Desk for a couple of years because I knew this landmark was approaching, and this album was worth honoring in a major way. She rarely performs songs from 颁辞尘辫濒别虫鈥� exclusively, so she brought family and invited special guests to participate, including long-time collaborator J. Black and Tiny Desk alumnus .
2004 was a banner year for R&B albums, with debuts from , Ciara and . We also got the final album from and 's magnum opus, Confessions, among many others. Moses came at a time when love songs still reigned supreme, and while she carried that tradition into Complex Simplicity, on the flip side, she also wrote about how she really felt, which makes this album unique. The balance of hard, soft and slick was a refreshing formula. Moses' brazen approach to songwriting influenced a generation of women in R&B, like , and . Behind the Desk, she ran through the best of Complex Simplicity, closing with the original and remix of "Be Your Girl."
SET LIST
- "Caught Up"
- "Complex Simplicity"
- "You'll Never Find (a Better Woman)"
- "You Better Tell Her"
- "No More Tears"
- "Take Me"
- "Backstroke"
- "Be Your Girl"
MUSICIANS
- Teedra Moses: vocals
- LeShawn Thomas: bass, musical direction
- Sharod Virtuoso: guitar
- Branden Akinyele: drums
- Brandon Butler: keys
- Durand Bernarr: background vocals, co-musical direction
- J. Black: background vocals
- Amanda Mikkel: background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Bobby Carter
- Director/Editor: Kara Frame
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Estefania Mitre
- Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and 老夫子传媒: Keith Jenkins
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