The Singles Jukebox

NYU master classes: the last frontier…

[Video][Website]
[5.29]

Hannah Jocelyn: I did an NYU songwriting workshop of my own in high school — meeting and working with writers from across the nation, even across the world, was a life-changing experience. When someone had a legitimately great song, you could tell; some people would be singing the catchier ones long after the day’s classes ended. While the masterclass is a different program from the one I did, judging from the short clip I saw of that Pharrell video, Maggie Rogers and “Alaska” would fit right in. The structure reminds me a lot of San Fermin’s near-perfect “Emily“; aside from having nearly the same chords in the chorus, both songs quietly build without ever truly exploding, and have hooks stacked throughout without ever calling attention to them. There’s some more obvious influences noticeable here and there, but like the best of the workshop songs, “Alaska” stands on its own, at turns raw and fully formed.
[9]

Katie Gill: That sparse instrumentation was a wonderful choice, showing off Rogers’s voice and bringing it to new heights. She just lilts though those high notes effortlessly and flawlessly. Points taken off for that cheap sounding drum machine in the chorus, but hey, if that’s your main problem then you’re better off than half the songs we feature on here.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Perhaps it’s singular if Pharrell hasn’t spent much time listening to Mitski, Grimes, or even Bill Callahan. Armed with knee taps, found sounds, and a formidable if thin coo, Maggie Rogers is also armed with industry good will. I look forward to the next tune.
[6]

A.J. Cohn: Oh me oh my I thought there wasn’t a folk-dance hybrid I could dislike more than Avicii’s “Wake Me Up.” But this entirely over-hyped offering from the metropopolis landfill might just be it.
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Jonathan Bogart: Every generation gets the David Gray they deserve.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: It’s got ’90s-dance-remix-of-a-folkie vibes, that’s for sure. Just wish it had more menace, less chill, and way less I-can-see-Florence-from-my-house.
[5]

Cassy Gress: There’s something like a pan flute floating in the background near the end, and inexplicably, that’s the only part of this that makes me think of Alaska. I’m much more distracted by how in the verses, her voice seems mixed too far forward, and how something sounds a bit out of tune in the harmonies in the choruses — not just dissonant.
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