No, that does not mean you can count your score as [43.00]…
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[6.14]
Anthony Easton: This made me cry a little bit, mostly because I need pretty songs about loyalty, and I am convinced the world isn’t falling apart for like 3 minutes.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I wonder if this made Pharrell cry too. Why not — the warmth of the synth pad recalls ’80s Springsteen, and the track has a point where Maggie Rogers’ voice mimics a second keyboard. If the WB still existed I imagine “Dog Years” as soundtrack for a teen love scene.
[6]
Katie Gill: “Dog Years” is a mish-mash of instruments: chimes, wobbly synths, and woodpecker noises. It’s absolutely lovely. All of these combine to create a unique sonic landscape, matching perfectly with Rogers’ voice, creating this beautiful blissed-out, relaxed final product. And man alive did I need the final refrain. Even if it’s in the afterlife (which Rogers views metaphorically), just hearing “we will be all right” over and over again gave me a little bit of strength I didn’t know I needed.
[7]
Will Adams: I’d assumed that it’d been long enough since my own graduation that I would no longer be gilding its significance to apocalyptic proportions, yet “Dog Years” still gave me pause. Some of the most important songs in my life the ones that impart the message of “I’ll be there” well enough that I believe it, and “Dog Years” has the makings of one of those songs. It provides real comfort, not just for reflecting with your classmates the night before the ceremony, but for facing the uncertainty of each day with a bit more confidence to know that you’re not alone.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: The production on “Dog Years” sounds alternatively like woodland marshes and a silverware drawer magically clattering against its shores. And that works with Roger’s foghorn vocals bowling over the surface of the record. If there’s any complaint to be had, it’s that the intensity of Rogers seems too oppositional compared to the at times restless attempts at serenity behind her, those big swells such relatively small leaps.
[4]
Ryo Miyauchi: Maggie Rogers still sounds too clean to fully convince me, though “Dog Years” fares slightly better than the more whimsical “Alaska.” The difference is in the chorus and how she tries to hit home urgency with that breakdown of a vocal performance. But I still hear it as performance, nothing more. I don’t hear true, lived-in risks from this experience she’s singing about.
[5]
Hannah Jocelyn: My initial hot take was “Peter Gabriel working with Sylvan Esso,” and that’s still true to an extent. But there’s so much more here, especially with Rogers’ falsetto in the chorus and the emotional, poignantly crafted lyrics. If it makes “Alaska” not sound quite as singular, that’s only because this one truly shows how much talent Rogers possesses. Sometimes, as with “Closer,” the artists’ Genius annotations can make a song less lovable, but seeing how she expands leaving college to a literal matter of life and death improves it even more, and humanizes it. It’s awesome the way she’s expanding her range. “Dog Years” shows that following Maggie Rogers is a prerequisite for anyone interested in 1. how young people are processing pop music, and 2. where they will take it.
[8]