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Maybe the World Just Hasn’t Caught On
Pharrell Williams, Maggie Rogers, and what it takes to stand out from the crowd
You’ve probably seen the video. A group of music students walk into a class to find legendary rapper-producer Pharrell Williams sitting there. He’s been invited by the teacher to critique their work. Listening to a couple of the demos, he gives notes like, “I would try stacking that lead vocal on the chorus,” and, “The second verse doesn’t communicate as confidently as the first one.”
And then Maggie Rogers is called up and shares her song “Alaska.” As the track plays through the speakers, Williams eyes widen. His face wriggles. He looks visibly shaken. He glances at the young woman in disbelief. “I have zero, zero, zero notes for that,” he finally says. “And I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re doing your own thing. It’s singular.”
Since this encounter in 2017, captured in a video that’s now viral, Rogers has soared. She scored a #1 album on a Billboard chart. Last week, she sold out New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
