Spotlight: Getting to Know the Tiny (but Mighty) Band, Tiny Habits
SUMMER IS IN FULL SWING — and endless TikTok binges have returned to our everyday routines in full force. On your daily scrolls through the platform, the algorithm has likely fed you fashion inspiration boards, funny celebrity impressions, and trendy food hacks — but if you’re especially lucky, you might have come across the band Tiny Habits.
Even if the algorithm has not surprised you with one of their videos, you will likely recognize the three musicians — Maya Rae, Cinya Khan, and Judah Mayowa — by their signature cozy vibes and crunchy, compact harmonies. The trio covers a diverse range of music, singing everything from early 2000s pop hits and contemporary indie favorites to their own original pieces. In combining their backgrounds in jazz, choir, band, and musical theater, Tiny Habits pull from a diverse range of skills and vocal stylings that remain omnipresent in every video they share.
The band has been posting their music on social media since February of 2021, officially forming as a band in January of 2022. Though, they recently have found viral success sharing their music via TikTok. In every video that they post, the three huddle around a guitar, sharing knowing smiles and light laughter as they effortlessly layer vocal harmony over vocal harmony. These simple elements work together to create a clip overflowing with positively infectious musical ecstasy. It doesn’t take but a few seconds of watching one of their videos to realize how special the bond the members of Tiny Habits share truly is.
With David Crosby of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young enthusiastically exclaiming via Twitter, “I need more Tiny Habits,” the band is certainly one to keep an eye (and ear) on.
Before they were Tiny Habits, the band was struggling over a roll of toilet paper. All three are currently students at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and during their freshman year became acquainted over a battle with a stubborn toilet paper holder.
“Cinya posted on her Instagram story about not knowing how to use the toilet paper roll thing in the dorm that we were living in,” Rae explains. “My roommate at the time and I were living in the same building, so I swiped up. That's how we became friends, because we figured it out together!” From there, Rae began to invite both Khan and Mayowa over to her dorm room for nightly jam sessions, and everything unfolded in a natural way.
Khan affirms that their formation as a band was simply a happy accident: “When we first started, it wasn't for content — we were just singing!” Posting on social media came as an afterthought to the fun they were having, as sharing a quick clip on the internet seemingly couldn’t have hurt.
After seeing their videos on social media, fans began to urge the trio to form a group, with comments under their posts practically begging them to release music together. Viewers could not get enough of the three’s tight harmonies and the peaceful atmosphere that emanated from their videos. After one of their initial Tik Toks went viral, Rae, Khan and Mayowa knew that it was finally time to make it official. They frantically texted in their group chat, throwing out band name after band name in hopes of getting everything set in stone.
“There was texting back and forth in this group chat we made that didn't have a name either,” Khan laughs, reminiscing. “They were saying random words, and when I mentioned 'habit,' we started putting words before and after ‘habits’ — 'small habits,’ ‘forever habits,' and then I said 'tiny habits.’” And so, it was a done deal. As a name, Tiny Habits encapsulates everything the group wishes to be: soft, sincere, and a familiar shoulder to lean on in times of need.
While much of their content to date consists of covers, the band has a pile of originals waiting to be released as singles. Their original work explores “general life experiences as an adolescent human being.”
“There's so many things that go on in[to] someone's life, and [our music helps] navigate through that,” Rae shares.
Going through the motions of songwriting is very much a therapeutic process for the three young musicians. Their song “Everything Changes” was inspired by a breakup occurring simultaneously while writing the track. “I remember singing it a couple of months later and thinking, 'Wow, this was so healing,'” Khan recalls. “I was even feeling it physically.”
Each song they produce is a manifestation of their own healing as individuals, providing them with constant reminders to enjoy the present moment — because this too shall pass.
But the characteristic that is perhaps most apparent within their music is the devout love and adoration they have for one another. “These people are my best friends — it’s all very chemical,” Mayowa confesses. “We love each other. We hang out with each other, and sometimes we'll have sessions where we just won't sing at all — we’ll just talk. That, for me, is really great and very important. A lot of people will start a band and they don't have that connection outside of playing together and singing together. With these dudes, it has been great because I can come to them about something that has nothing to do with music.”
Rae wholeheartedly agrees, chiming in, “That makes the music and the singing so effortless. The connection of love is there in the sound. Singing together is a very spiritual thing.”
The three have immense reverence for the music as well as the moment in which they are existing in together. However, remaining grounded in the moment at hand does not always come easily. Trying to stay afloat in the music industry today comes with its challenges, but the members of Tiny Habits luckily do not have to do it alone.
“Going through this experience together as a group rather than as individuals is very cool — just to have that built in support system,” Rae says gratefully. “We all feel the same things and go through it together.”
In an industry where everyone is reaching for the stars, Khan imparts her go-to mantra when it comes to sharing music: “Being insecure about something doesn't change it. In terms of posting on social media or sharing my art, this is just what I'm making. If you like it, that's amazing. If you don't, that's also great — it's just not my business.”
Luckily, it seems as though people are very much liking what Tiny Habits is putting down — at least, their 86.8k followers on TikTok seem to indicate so. Fellow artists have been quick to show enthusiastic support for the trio, as Tiny Habits has already collaborated with the likes of Lizzy McAlpine, Peter Collins, and JP Saxe.
The impact that Tiny Habits will have on the world will certainly in no way be tiny. For these three go-getters, this venture into the music industry only marks the beginning. Rae, Khan, and Mayowa are eager to release their original work and are ready to play as many shows as they can get. Rest assured, during the time in between, there will be plenty of content coming from the band via social media.
So, if summer boredom has gotten you down, you might want to make it a new habit to incorporate Tiny Habits into your daily routine.
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