Emmett Hughes and the Look of Saxophone Pop Revisited on What Will I Do
Emmett Hughes and the Look of Saxophone Pop Revisited on What Will I Do
A Huntington Songwriter Brings Back a 2024 Pop-Funk Single Built on Saxophone and Strings
Most independent artists put their newest release in the window. Emmett Hughes has done something different and brought a 2024 single back into view instead. What Will I Do earns the display space. It is a four-minute pop and funk groove, built from saxophone, strings and a light reggae lilt.
Emmett Hughes is in the playlist below, filed with the retro pop this desk keeps coming back to, and the Emmett Hughes artist profile lists the rest of the coverage. What Will I Do reached AltPop.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Queue it up for four minutes, then carry on reading.
The presentation says a lot about the record. Hughes released What Will I Do as a single on 19 February 2024. It also sits on his second album, The Third Degree. Two years on, he is treating it as a song still worth discovering rather than a finished chapter. That is a confident piece of staging for a track about uncertainty.
Hughes works out of Huntington, New York, and his background runs through rock, blues, funk and reggae. All four show up here, but none of them takes over. The result feels relaxed on the surface and restless underneath. That is exactly the tension the lyric needs.
Emmett Hughes Builds What Will I Do From a Drum-Like Synth to Strings and Saxophone
The arrangement arrives in layers, and it is worth hearing them in order. The track opens on a synth line that sounds like percussion, setting the pulse before any drums arrive. Guitars and strings come in next, warm and bright rather than dense. Then the bass and drums settle into a steady groove that gives the song its forward motion.
Piano fills the middle of the frame, adding weight without crowding the vocal. Clinking percussion keeps the top end busy. The saxophone is the centrepiece of the styling, smooth and unhurried. It gives the vocal the kind of melodic answer a horn gave on classic radio pop. Late in the song, backing vocals rise to harmonise with the lead. At that point the track opens out into something closer to relief.
That build matters because the song is a confession. Hughes sings about the fear of losing a partner and about how he would cope alone. The arrangement starts gently, then lets the band gather round him. In effect, the music supplies the reassurance the lyric is asking for.
A Warm Mix Leaves Room for the Saxophone, the Strings and a Deep Lead Vocal
The production choices are generous with space. Hughes has a thick, deep voice, and it anchors the track so that every line of the question lands. The saxophone answers it rather than competing with it, and the strings add colour instead of spectacle. Illustrate Magazine called the arrangement delicate and the overall sound rich and dynamic.
That openness is why reviewers heard such different records in it. Dulaxi described a funky reggae feel. HBN in Brazil heard old-school classic rock and soft rock, with touches of country and blues. It also singled out a saxophone typical of 1980s classics. Illustrate Magazine focused on the clinking percussion, shimmering guitars and soulful horns. The track holds all of those readings at once. That is the sign of a production that leaves room rather than dictating.
Hughes is a working musician as much as a recording artist. He sings and plays guitar, bass and keyboards. He has also played live since the late 1970s with original and cover bands. These days the Emmett Hughes Band plays mostly around the New York City metro area.
His debut album, Sixty Trips Around the Sun, came before The Third Degree. According to his site, the second album asks hard questions about sustaining relationships. What Will I Do is where that question sounds plainest. A third album is now in progress with his bandmates. Beyond that, his Spotify catalogue also includes I’ll Always Be Around, That’s Against the Law and Better Days Ahead.
Where to Hear Emmett Hughes, and Why Billy Joel and Sting Fans Will Take to It
The listener this suits is someone who likes pop with a real band in the room. Fans of Billy Joel will recognise the move. In 1977, Phil Woods’ alto saxophone solo on Just the Way You Are made a love song sound polished and personal. Fans of Sting have another reference point. On The Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985, Sting set songs with a reggae lilt against Branford Marsalis’ saxophone. What Will I Do works in a similar space, between groove and reflection.
The song has already had a good run in print. Illustrate Magazine, Dulaxi, The Musical Road, End Sessions and HBN all covered it in 2024. Thoughts Words Action also shared its review on LinkedIn. This second push invites a new set of listeners to catch up.
AltPop.News’s curator team:
“The best decision on What Will I Do is letting the backing vocals arrive late. For more than two minutes Hughes is alone with the question. When the harmonies finally come in, they sound like an answer.”
Stream What Will I Do on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, and hear more of his catalogue on SoundCloud. Follow Emmett Hughes on Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. His official site has more on his music.
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