Maggie Rogers


Margaret Debay Rogers is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, Talbot County, Maryland. Her big break came when her song "Alaska" was played to Pharrell Williams during a master class at New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2020.

Early life

Rogers grew up along the banks of the Miles River in Easton, Maryland. Her father is a now-retired Ford Motor Company dealer and her mother, a former nurse, is now an end-of-life doula. She began playing harp at age seven, and loved the music of Gustav Holst and Antonio Vivaldi. Her mother would play neo-soul artists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. By the time she was in middle school, Rogers had added piano and guitar to her repertoire and began songwriting in eighth grade. For high school, she attended the prestigious St. Andrew's boarding school in Middletown, Delaware as well as The Gunston School in Maryland. At school, she played harp in the orchestra, sang in the choir, joined a jazz band, learned banjo and became interested in folk music, and taught herself how to program. She also spent many summers during her formative years at a rural camp in Maine.
The summer after her junior year, Rogers attended a Berklee College of Music program and won the program's songwriting contest, which spurred her to focus on writing. During her senior year, she turned a broom closet into a makeshift studio and recorded what became her first album, The Echo. Rogers included her demos as part of her application to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. She secured admission and started in 2012.

College years and discovery

At NYU, Rogers considered a career in music journalism, and in her freshman year, Rogers interned for music journalist Lizzy Goodman for whom she transcribed and edited hundreds of hours of interviews with major musicians and journalists, which would be later compiled into Goodman's 2017 book Meet Me in the Bathroom.
Rogers released another folk album, Blood Ballet, during her sophomore year at the school. Folk blog EarToTheGround Music explained that the album "...begs for listeners to confront deep personal emotions."
Rogers studied abroad in France while at NYU and after friends convinced her to go clubbing while they were in Berlin, her eyes opened to a new genre and she discovered a love for dance music. When she returned home, Rogers was ready to make new music and merge her folk style with electronic production.
In 2016, after two years of writer's block, Rogers wrote "Alaska", a song she wrote in fifteen minutes about a National Outdoor Leadership School course. She played the song for Pharrell Williams in a master class he taught at her school and as a result, a video of a visibly moved Williams listening to the song went viral that June, resulting in millions of views as well as hundreds of thousands of plays of The Echo and Blood Ballet.
Rogers graduated from New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in May 2016 with a degree in music engineering and production and English.

Music career

After the Pharrell video went viral, several different record labels tried to sign Rogers. She ended up negotiating a contract with Capitol Records where "she licenses her music to them through her own imprint, Debay Sounds." As a result, she has more control over her sound and image than many artists at a similar place in their music careers.Rogers' EP, Now That the Light Is Fading, was released on February 17, 2017. She released her major-label debut album, Heard It In a Past Life, in January 2019. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200.
In April 2019, Rogers covered the Taylor Swift song "Tim McGraw" as a Spotify Single. She told Rolling Stone, "This song so distinctly belongs to—one of I think, personally—the greatest living songwriters."
Rogers made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 15, 2017, Saturday Night Live debut on November 3, 2018 and Today Show debut on July 12, 2019.
Rogers cites Carrie Brownstein, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, and Björk as her musical inspirations, while prominent singers Brandi Carlile and Sharon Van Etten - who she calls her "musical big sisters" - have become mentors.
She guested with Dead & Company, performing "Friend of the Devil" and "The Weight" on November 1, 2019 at Madison Square Garden.
Rogers earned a nomination for Best New Artist at the 62nd Grammy Awards.

Performances

Tours

Headliner
Opening Act
Rogers has performed at numerous festivals around the United States such as Coachella, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, SXSW, Boston Calling, Outside Lands, Firefly, and Shaky Knees.
She has also played at festivals internationally, including Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England; Rock Werchter in Werchter, Belgium; Osheaga Festival in Montreal, Canada; Latitude Festival in Southwold, UK; Citadel Festival in London; Down the Rabbit Hole in Beuningen, Netherlands; and Splendour in the Grass Festival in Byron Bay, New South Wales ; and at the Main Square Festival in Arras, France.

Personal life

Rogers has synesthesia, a benign condition where one or more senses is perceived at once. In her case, she is able to perceive colors as a response to hearing music.
She has been praised in the media for standing up against sexist comments made during one of her performances. During the ACL Live performance at the Moody Theater in Austin on October 19, 2019, one man asked her to "free the nips" while another yelled out "you cute though." Rogers went to social media to express her anger and was praised by her followers, the public and media outlets.

Activism and charity involvement

Her song "Give A Little" was penned on the same day the National School Walkout demanded congressional action on gun control. She was inspired by the activism of students across the nation, and wrote "Give A Little" about empathy and unity.
Rogers also supports organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood by donating proceeds from merchandise and shows. In an interview, she said that "Planned Parenthood is something that's really important to me. I am proudly, loudly and distinctly pro-choice. I just don't believe that the government should have a say in what a woman's relationship with her doctor is. But I also just think that I am a woman, and I am an artist, and I'm also a businesswoman, and on stage I'm an athlete. And having access to sexual and reproductive health is key for me running my life. It's important that women all over have access to that, because it also affords them access to opportunities."

Discography

Studio albums

Independent albums

Extended plays

Singles

Accolades