Maggie Rogers has one of the best origin stories of any emerging pop star this year. After Pharrell came to visit her master class for NYU students and heard her breakout single “Alaska” he was full of effusive praise for her work. Basically what Rogers does is mix her background in folk music with a spiritual appreciation for electronic music — she shared with Pharrell and her class a memory of traveling to Europe and connecting with that style of music and the freedom to dance in a totally new way during her trip.
All that comes through in her music so strongly, that “Alaska” has no hit No. 1 in twenty-three countries, as Seth Meyers notes before she performed it on his show last night. Not only that, but Rogers’ debut EP Now That The Light Is Fading is out now, and has spawned a number of other incredible songs like “Dog Years,” “On + Off” and “Better.”
As far as her late night performance of her initial breakout though, Rogers sticks true to the original, dancing with the weird abandon of a post-Lorde indie pop star on the make, and hitting those high nights without an ounce of effort. Watch it above and stream her EP below if you haven’t heard it yet.
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