by SMF· Published April 29, 2019· Updated April 29, 2019

This song is founded on Maggie Rogers’s personal experiences hiking in Alaska, United States. She uses these occurrences as a backdrop to introduce the psychological elements upon which this track is actually based on.

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For instance, her trek through Alaska allowed her to not only ‘walk off’ someone she apparently wanted to get over but also an older version of herself. She also makes references to “deep” breathing, “inhaling” and “air in between” she and the listener, which read like allusions to meditation.

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Ultimately Rogers states that this song reflects a time in “(her) life when (she) was really lost”. Thus the implication is that this trip to Alaska helped her to find “clarity”. And likewise the goal of this track is to imbue that same feeling of peace onto the listener.

Facts about “Alaska”

• Thus far this is the song that has defined Maggie Rogers’s career, especially in that it helped her to be discovered in March of 2016 while she was still a student at NYU. That is when “Alaska” caught the ear of renowned singer and music producer Pharrell Williams, whose reaction to first hearing the song went viral on social media, as he was really impressed with the track. Thus having such a respected figure in the music industry like her song so much on a public platform empowered Maggie, who was still an amateur at the time, to negotiate her first record deal.
• Maggie Rogers wrote this hit song in only 15 minutes after suffering a two-yearlong writer’s block.
• Maggie wrote “Alaska” alongside Doug Schadt, a producer based in Brooklyn, New York. Accordingly, she and Doug also produced the track.
• The labels behind “Alaska” are Debay Sounds and Capitol Records.  The song was officially released on 15 June 2016.

On which album is “Alaska”?

It appears as one of the singles on Maggie Rogers’ 2019 album Heard It in a Past Life. This is Rogers’ major-label maiden album. The song was also initially released as the lead single from Rogers’ 2017 EP titled Now That the Light Is Fading.