Hannah Jadagu Turns Small Moments Into Massive Pop Songs

What does it imply to be a pop songwriter in 2023? Part of the job is what it has all the time been: arising with catchy melodies, terse lyrics and instrumental hooks; creating crisply outlined verses and choruses; capturing brief consideration spans whereas tapping into broadly shared experiences.

“Pop construction is all the time taking place in my songs,” stated Hannah Jadagu, 20, whose debut album, “Aperture,” shall be launched on Friday. In a video chat from her dorm room at New York University, she added, “I like a great hook or a great refrain. I like a great banger. I like a pop hit.”

Jadagu’s dorm room is spartan. One in any other case naked wall is adorned with a poster of a fierce-looking lady’s face, origin unknown; Jadagu rescued it from a discard pile. Another shows a number of posters and passes from her current excursions; Jadagu paused her school schooling in 2022 to tour and write her album. Her room is now primarily a musician’s work area, together with her pc, a MIDI keyboard and three guitars shut at hand. When she got here to N.Y.U., the place she’s now in her third 12 months, she contemplated changing into a music supervisor and leaned into research of music as a enterprise, however quickly she started to give attention to her personal songs.

Jadagu has a definite visible presence — a cascade of lengthy, blond braids frames her face — and a contagious smile, significantly noticeable when she’s citing musicians she’s discovered from, well-known and fewer so. She talked about Charli XCX, Frank Ocean, SZA, Haim, Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, the Beatles, Ellie Goulding, CeeLo Green, Clairo, beabadoobee, Vampire Weekend, Steve Lacy, Snail Mail, M.I.A., Grouplove, Winnetka Bowling League, Ritt Momney, the Japanese House, Kevin Abstract and extra. Many of them, she freely admits, have had an instantaneous affect on no matter track she was engaged on when she heard them.