Maggie Rogers had a breakthrough moment when she was a student at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute. Pharrell Williams visited to her class, and when he heard her song “Alaska,” his reaction was dramatic, and caught on video. The video of Pharrell listening to Maggie’s song went viral, and “Alaska” became a hit, with over 40 million streams on Spotify alone. Maggie Rogers is now playing sold out shows across the country, just a year after graduating. In this episode, Maggie tells the story of what came before that day in class—all the steps and missteps that eventually led to her writing the song “Alaska.”

You can get “Alaska” on iTunes.

Maggie’s Masterclass with Pharrell

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Maggie Rogers – “James”
NOLS Alaska Backpacking Program
Ableton House Racks – Undrgrnd Sounds
Carly Rae Jepsen
Doug Schadt – Producer

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