AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right, we have a winner. After reviewing more than 6,000 entries to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, today, NPR Music crowned Dallas, Texas, group Cure for Paranoia with its song "No Brainer."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) Everybody go left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Go left brain, right brain, no brain. I lost my mind. Not complaining. Go.
CHANG: I am so lucky to be talking with rapper and songwriter Cameron McCloud. Cameron, first of all, congratulations. How does it feel to be the winner?
CAMERON MCCLOUD: You know what?
CHANG: What?
MCCLOUD: It feels amazing.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCLOUD: I'm genuinely, genuinely still so in disbelief that it's happening. And I'm genuinely not going to believe that we won until I'm standing behind that little desk.
CHANG: Oh, well, start believing it.
MCCLOUD: (Laughter).
CHANG: I mean, I get why you're a little incredulous right now, because I understand that you submitted to the Tiny Disk Contest four times at this point.
MCCLOUD: Yeah. Yeah.
CHANG: So you are persistent, my friend.
MCCLOUD: Oh, yeah.
CHANG: What do you think made the fourth time the magic time?
MCCLOUD: Well, I mean, my God, it was a no-brainer.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCLOUD: I genuinely think that what made this one so different is that it's the most myself that I've been in a submission. And it's finally me, like, kind of really accepting myself and, yeah, being, like, confident in that acceptance. I feel like last year's submission was, like, kind of, like, the start of that...
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: ...Of me beginning to really just, like, put myself out there and not really care. But I think also since last year is the year that I did a verse every day for a year and got to see the response to me showing up for myself every single day, there's just a newfound trust that I have in myself that I think I went into this submission with and is what made it so different and has made this one the one.
CHANG: Can we talk more about how you built up this trust in yourself? Like, starting with this song, "No brainer."
MCCLOUD: Yeah.
CHANG: How did it come to you? What does this song mean to you?
MCCLOUD: It's interesting. This submission is actually, like - every single verse in this submission is one of those verses from the daily verse series that I did last year. And I think last year's submission was, like, me accepting myself, and it was kind of, like, in a braggadocious way and kind of just, like - it was almost like a security blanket a little bit to be like, no, I'm this amazing thing and blah, blah, blah.
CHANG: Fake it till you make it.
MCCLOUD: Fake - listen, fake it till you make it. But I think this one was just more of, like, oh, this is, like - like, oh, we're here. Like, we're actually - there's no more faking it. It's, like, literally making it. And I also think the biggest difference between all the other submissions was this was the first year that I wasn't just completely depending on Tiny Desk to, like, be the thing that made or broke our career or the thing that, like...
CHANG: Oh.
MCCLOUD: ...Got our name out there. I gained over 400,000 followers from posting a verse every single day.
CHANG: Wow.
MCCLOUD: So, like, ultimately, doing a submission this year was really like, why not? It's, like, such a great...
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: ...Form of publicity, and I want to use all of these eyes that I have on me to be able to put eyes on us and on Dallas.
CHANG: What a cool place to be. Like, hey, Tiny Desk...
MCCLOUD: Yeah.
CHANG: ...I'm here if you want it, but I'm cool if you don't want it either, you know?
MCCLOUD: Listen. And it's like you - it's the whole thing of where it's like, you don't get something until you let it go.
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: My boyfriend literally told me last year. He was like, you are putting your entire career in the hands of Tiny Desk, and you're waiting for Tiny Desk to be the thing that makes you. But what you should be focusing on is making yourself so that Tiny Desk comes to you.
CHANG: Wow.
MCCLOUD: And you know what?
CHANG: This is your boyfriend. I hope you guys are still together, because what a wise thing to say.
MCCLOUD: Listen, he ate with that.
CHANG: (Laughter).
MCCLOUD: He ate with that. And we very much are.
CHANG: Oh, I love that. Well, can you tell me more about the band name, Cure for Paranoia? Where does that name come from?
MCCLOUD: The short of it is that 10 years ago, I got placed on medication for bipolar depression and paranoid schizophrenia. And I always tell people - it's like, I didn't get diagnosed those things, but, I mean, if Tommy has four apples, then, you know, like this is - that's just the simple math. So, like, I created Cure for Paranoia because I realized that, like, the music was way more therapeutic than the medication was. So, like, I wanted to make music that was therapy, well, first and foremost, for me. And it was therapy for me to really, like, divulge the stuff that I was going through, what I had going on in my head and what was, quote-unquote, wrong with me. And I think that openness and honesty resonated with people and made other people kind of - it was therapy because it was like, if this guy can be himself, like, why can't I? And...
CHANG: You felt that the music was more effective...
MCCLOUD: A hundred percent.
CHANG: ...Than - in treating...
MCCLOUD: If I...
CHANG: ...Your mental health struggles than the medication?
MCCLOUD: Yeah. Yes, if I may, a quick disclaimer.
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: Everyone, please take your meds still. Please take...
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: ...Your medicine still. I'm not saying, like, this is a cure-all, but it was definitely - this band definitely saved my life. I'll put it that way.
CHANG: Can you say more about that? How did music feel like therapy? If you can take it down to maybe a more granular level. Like, you feel grounded when you're making music and performing music?
MCCLOUD: I feel like on stage and writing music and being able to express myself through music is the only time that I'm not performing. I feel like when I'm on stage...
CHANG: Wow.
MCCLOUD: ...Is the only time when I'm not being performative. I feel like that I'm my most genuine and authentic self when I get to express myself through my lyrics, through being on stage. I've just always been inspired by artists who, like, don't necessarily make me want to be like them.
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: But they're so themselves that it makes me want to be like me. You know what I mean?
CHANG: Yeah.
MCCLOUD: So I aspire to be that.
CHANG: I also just think you're so lucky to have this thing - performance - which is...
MCCLOUD: Oh, yeah.
CHANG: ...The place where you don't feel forced to perform. I think so many of us need to find that space where they...
MCCLOUD: Really?
CHANG: ...Feel completely safe...
MCCLOUD: Yeah.
CHANG: ...To be who they are, to be authentic.
MCCLOUD: Because people who don't create, don't have an outlet to create, they instead turn around and then just create problems.
CHANG: Well, speaking of performance, you'll be performing a Tiny Desk concert and then you'll be going on a nationwide tour. Can you talk about it?
MCCLOUD: Oh, that's so crazy.
CHANG: Right?
MCCLOUD: It's so crazy.
CHANG: How are you even preparing for something like that? And what are you most excited about?
MCCLOUD: I'm just most excited about everything that is going to come from this. I just know - I know all that we need is just the eyes on us. And then it's like the sky's the limit, you know?
CHANG: Well, fourth time is the charm. Congratulations, Cameron.
MCCLOUD: Yes, indeed.
CHANG: That is Cameron McCloud of the 2026 Tiny Desk Contest-winning group Cure for Paranoia. You can watch his winning entry and get tickets to see him on tour this summer at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) Go. Everybody go left brain, right brain, no brain. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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