SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime and come from anybody.
(SOUNDBITE OF EPH SEE SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
SIMON: Might even call it up using an app.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver.
SIMON: A late-night Uber ride led one artist to make this song and to enter it into NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. "Malachi The Uber Driver" didn't win the contest, but the song did win the hearts of our music team.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) The whole night getting...
My name is Felisha Cabral, also known as Eph See, and I'm an artist, producer and songwriter from Boston, Massachusetts.
SIMON: Eph See has been making music for the better part of a decade, but they'd lost the spark lately. Then one night, leaving an artist meet-up, their headphones ran out of battery, and so instead of riding home in silence, they struck up a conversation with the person who was taking them home - a man named Malachi.
EPH SEE: He had asked me what I was coming back from, and I was like, I just came from this concert. So we started talking about music and streaming and artists not being paid well enough and all that kind of stuff. So I was like, oh, this guy's, like, really knowledgeable about music. I wonder if he's also a creative. So I asked him, and that's when he, like, jokingly said, like, oh, yeah, like, I'm Malachi. I'm worldwide. Haven't you heard of me?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver, jokes and says he's worldwide. He...
You know, the struggle is real. I know artists who are super talented and, you know, still have to work, like, one or two jobs to support their careers. I was like, bet. Malachi, the Uber driver, who's also worldwide, I believe you. And yeah, then I had asked him, you know, like, what kind of art do you do? And he talked about how he used to do, I think, drawing and painting, especially when he was younger because his, like, grandmother would always send him art supplies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver, we're not so different, you and I.
There were just so many, like, little synchronicities like that of, like, oh, we're both people who found art a really important time in our lives, had special connections to our grandmothers. And it was just, like, a lovely conversation with someone who was willing to connect. And I think that's something that we're missing a lot these days. He was talking about how, like, he had put the pen down, basically, because he wasn't any good. And I was like, no, like, you should keep at it. Like, art truly is for everyone.
SIMON: And in turn, Malachi inspired Eph See to keep going - to keep writing, singing and strumming, but also to keep connecting with people.
EPH SEE: At the very end of the ride, he said, I'll see you when you're worldwide. And I just had this moment where I was like, I think you are, like, an angel that I needed to get in this car with. It was, like, the first song I had written in months after, like, such a huge funk, and it just spilled out of me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) Getting...
SIMON: That's Boston-based artist Eph See. Their song "Malachi The Uber Driver" was entered into our Tiny Desk Contest.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER")
EPH SEE: (Singing) Drives to pass the time and... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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