Tiny Habits Against the World

In the spring of 2021, three strangers — Cinya Khan, Judah Mayowa, and Maya Rae — sang together for the first time in a dorm room at Berklee College. It began on DM.

“I found them both on Instagram because we had started at Berkeley during Covid, so kind of the way you would make friends was online,” Rae says. “Initially, I just thought they were both amazing singers, obviously, and I just wanted to be their friends. I thought they were so cool.”

It was Mayowa who showed up at Rae’s dorm first. “It was my first time really going out on my own in a place that wasn’t home,” Mayowa says. “I don’t think I had met anyone as good as them before.”

Then, Khan knocked. Earlier, Khan had posted a public plea on Instagram about the dorm’s elusive toilet paper handles and Rae responded, later inviting her to join them to sing. “I knocked on her door — shaking, so scared,” Khan recalls.

That night, after a few YouTube karaoke tracks, they recorded their first video together: a clip of the trio harmonizing to Kacey Musgraves ’ 2018 Golden Hour track, “Happy & Sad.”

When the semester ended, they couldn’t wait to get together again. “I went home for the summer only thinking about singing with them,” says Rae.

From there, things moved quickly. The friends went from recording videos of themselves dropping mesmerizing harmonies in stairwell corners and dorms — going viral and catching the attention of luminaries from the likes of David Crosby and Elton John — to writing their first ballad together months later and settling on their name: Tiny Habits.

The newly formed band released their debut album, All For Something , in May 2024. The LP was a hit, filled with romantic and wistful melodies lifted by their intimate folk-pop sound. It was followed by a succession of opening tour spots with Gracie Abrams (who surprised them with a congratulatory cake), James Taylor , Sarah McLachlan , and Noah Kahan .

“Gracie does a really good job of making everyone feel like they’re valuable [on tour],” says Khan. “Noah’s the sweetest. James Taylor, obviously, the best,” adds Rae. “They’ve all just been very kind to us.” Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

The momentum around them continues to grow: features on tracks with Holly Humberstone, JP Saxe, Lizzy McAlpine, and Joe Jonas; a buzzy performance at Matty Healy and Gabbriette Bechtel’s Los Angeles wedding; and, in a full-circle moment, a “Perfection” collaboration with Musgraves on her Deeper Well expanded edition , Deeper Into the Well .

Now, five years after colliding in that fateful dorm room, Tiny Habits have released their sophomore album, Keepers , out now. The record is a sumptuous departure from their debut, filled with the complicated stories of love, yes, but also love’s more prickly siblings: desire, guilt, self-doubt, delusion, anger, freedom, and bittersweet joy.

It’s a balmy afternoon at the Rolling Stone offices in Los Angeles when Khan, Mayowa, and Rae come by to discuss their new LP.