The first One to Watch for 2017 on Breaking More Waves is Maggie Rogers. 2016 has been a year when there’s been a whole host of new music that has had fantastic production, but much of it has been somewhat lacking in substance in the song department – all that old-fashioned stuff like great melodies, hooks and tunes to draw you in.
Maggie Rogers' Alaska has all that stuff. It’s a beautifully produced piece of work, but there’s a real quality to the song as well. Not only that, but alongside the delightful airiness and purity of the vocals, there’s a real soul there. Alaska sounds like the work of someone who is really in love with music. It is, without question, my single of 2016.
A quick recap for those of you who still haven’t heard of Maggie. Her breakthrough moment came when Pharrell Williams attended a masterclass at New York’s Clive Davis Institute and met Maggie, who played him Alaska. He was immediately blown away, being moved virtually to tears, calling the song and her talent ‘singular’. The video of that moment (which is really rather powerful – seeing a major star being so humbled) subsequently went viral and a few months further on, Maggie had signed a deal with a major record label. You can see the video here if you missed it the first time round.
Since that video the big question has been can Maggie live up to the hype that Alaska has created? The answer came very recently when she released her second song Dog Years. Inevitably it couldn’t quite match the radiance of Alaska, but what it did demonstrate was that Maggie Rogers has definite talent. This second release, a warmly mellow pop tune about trusting the universe, being a good friend and never having enough time is just rather lovely and so on the basis of these two songs, she has to be one of Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch for 2017.
Maggie Rogers - Alaska (Video)
Maggie Rogers - Dog Years
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