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Maggie Rogers On World Cafe

Maggie Rogers performs at World Cafe Live during a WXPN "Free At Noon" concert.
Tiana Timmerberg
/
WXPN
Maggie Rogers performs at World Cafe Live during a WXPN "Free At Noon" concert.

You might have seen Maggie Rogers wowing Pharrell Williams in a viral video that captures the time she played him her song "Alaska" during a master class at NYU. In the video, as "Alaska" plays, you can see Pharrell is feeling it — and when the song ends, he gives Rogers his feedback: "Wow. I have zero, zero, zero notes for that. And I'll tell you why. It is because you are doing your own thing. It's singular."

In this session, Rogers tells us how that interaction helped launch her career and talks about using samples from nature in place of traditional instruments. "So the main rhythmic loop in 'Alaska' is me just patting on my jeans," she says. "But my favorite sample is in the pre-chorus, there is a morning dove. ... It feels like a synth."

Hear the complete session in the player above.

Copyright 2021 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.