Margaret Debay Rogers[1] (born April 25, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, 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.[2] She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2019. She graduated from Harvard Divinity School in May 2022.
Maggie Rogers | |
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![]() Rogers in 2019 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Margaret Debay Rogers |
Born | (1994-04-25) April 25, 1994 (age 28) Easton, Maryland, U.S. |
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Instrument(s) | |
Years active | 2012–present |
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Website | maggierogers |
Maggie Rogers grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland along the banks of the Miles River in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland. Her father is a now-retired Ford Motor Company dealer and her mother, a former nurse, is now an end-of-life doula.[3] 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.[4] For high school, she graduated from St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware. 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.[5]
The summer after her junior year in high school, Rogers attended a Berklee College of Music program and won the program's songwriting contest, which spurred her to focus on writing.[4] During her high school senior year, she recorded what became her first album, The Echo (2012). Rogers included her demos as part of her application to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.[3] She secured admission and started in 2012.[3]
At NYU, Rogers considered a career in music journalism, and in her first 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.[6][7]
She formed a band called Del Water Gap with a singer-songwriter S. Holden Jaffe.[8] The reason they split was because they both wanted to explore more of their solo work. Their song called "New Song" appears on Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011–2016 (2020).
Rogers released another folk album, Blood Ballet (2014), during her second year at the school. Folk blog EarToTheGround Music explained that the album "...begs for listeners to confront deep personal emotions."[9]
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.[10]
In 2016, after two years of writer's block,[7] 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 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.[11][12]
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.[13][5][14]
In September 2021, it became publicly known that Rogers had started graduate school at Harvard Divinity School, where she is, according to her own tweet, "studying the spirituality of public gatherings and the ethics of power in pop culture."[15][16] In May 2022, she turned in her Master's thesis and passed with distinction.
After the Pharrell video went viral, several different record labels tried to sign Rogers.[3] She ended up negotiating a recording 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.[7]
Rogers' EP, Now That the Light Is Fading, was released on February 17, 2017. She released her major-label debut studio album, Heard It in a Past Life, in January 2019. The album debuted at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200.[17][18]
In April 2019, Rogers covered the Taylor Swift song "Tim McGraw" as a Spotify Single.[19] She told Rolling Stone, "This song so distinctly belongs to one of — I think, personally — the greatest living songwriters."[19]
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.[20]
Rogers cites Carrie Brownstein, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, and Björk as her musical inspirations,[2] while prominent singers Brandi Carlile and Sharon Van Etten — whom she calls her "musical big sisters" — have become mentors.[21]
She guested with Dead & Company, performing "Friend of the Devil" and "The Weight" on November 1, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Rogers earned a nomination for Best New Artist at the 62nd Grammy Awards.[22]
Rogers performed during the 2020 Democratic National Convention, appearing remotely from Scarborough, Maine due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She was introduced by Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and 2020 US Senate candidate from Maine Sara Gideon.[23]
On November 13, 2020, Rogers collaborated with Phoebe Bridgers on a cover version of the Goo Goo Dolls' 1998 single "Iris", which Bridgers said she would make if Donald Trump lost the 2020 United States elections.[24][25] The song was released as a one-day exclusive on Bandcamp and was downloaded 28,000 times, with all proceeds going to Fair Fight Action.[26][27] Despite only being available for purchase for one day, the song debuted at number one on the Digital Song Sales chart and No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 200, making it both artists' first entry on the latter chart.[28] The song also charted in Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland.[29][30][31]
On December 18, 2020, Rogers released Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011–2016 via her label Debay Sounds. The album is a compilation of songs she wrote and recorded in the past ten years of her recording career. Some of the songs are from her independently released first two albums: The Echo (2012) and Blood Ballet (2014). Other songs are from her previously unreleased 2016 rock EP and a band she was previously in with Holden Jaffe, Del Water Gap. The album was released along with a deluxe version in which Rogers provides an auditory commentary talking through each stage of her music career that the songs in that section reflect.[32]
On March 30, 2022, Rogers announced her second studio album, Surrender, which was released on July 29, 2022.[33] It was supported by the singles "That's Where I Am", "Want Want", and "Horses".
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.[36]
She has also played at festivals internationally, including Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, Somerset, England; Rock Werchter in Werchter, Belgium; Osheaga Festival in Montreal, Canada; Latitude Festival in Henham Park, UK; Citadel Festival in London; Down the Rabbit Hole in Ewijk, Netherlands; and Splendour in the Grass Festival in Byron Bay, New South Wales; and at the Main Square Festival in Arras, France.[36]
Rogers has synesthesia, a benign condition where two or more senses are perceived at once. In her case, she is able to perceive colors as a response to hearing music.[37]
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.[38]
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."[39][40]
Rogers performed at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[41] She later endorsed Sara Gideon, who introduced her performance, in the 2020 United States Senate election in Maine.[42]
Title | Album details | Peak positions | Sales | Certifications | |||||||||
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US [43] |
US Alt. [44] |
AUS [45] |
BEL (FL) [46] |
CAN [47] |
IRE [48] |
NL [49] |
SCO [50] |
SWI [51] |
UK [52] | ||||
Heard It in a Past Life |
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2 | 1 | 8 | 92 | 10 | 30 | 95 | 18 | 49 | 25 |
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Surrender |
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12 | 2 | 39 [55] | 132 | 77 | 73 [56] | — | 3 | — | 6 |
Title | Album details |
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The Echo |
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Blood Ballet |
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Title | Details | Peak positions |
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US Sales [59] | ||
Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011–2016 |
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72 |
Title | Details | Peak positions | ||
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US Heat [61] |
US Rock [62] |
US Sales [59] | ||
Now That the Light Is Fading |
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4 | 39 | 99 |
Mixtape 001: Dawn |
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— | — | — |
Mixtape 002: Dusk |
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— | — | — |
Mixtape 003: Night Drive |
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— | — | — |
Title | Year | Peak positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US AAA [63] |
US Adult Pop [64] |
US Alt [65] |
US Dance [66] |
US Rock [67] |
BEL (FL) Tip [46] |
CAN Rock [68] |
NZ Hot [69] | ||||||
"Alaska"[upper-alpha 1] | 2016 | 13 | — | —[upper-alpha 2] | — | 18 | 13 | — | — | Now That the Light Is Fading | |||
"Dog Years" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"On and Off"[upper-alpha 1] | 2017 | 20 | — | — | — | 44 | — | — | — | ||||
"Split Stones" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||
"Fallingwater" | 2018 | — | — | —[upper-alpha 3] | — | — | — | — | — | Heard It in a Past Life | |||
"Give a Little" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"Light On" | 1 | 31 | —[upper-alpha 4] | 26 | —[upper-alpha 5] | — | — | 40 | |||||
"Burning" | 2019 | 6 | — | — | — | —[upper-alpha 6] | — | — | 32 | ||||
"Love You for a Long Time"[76] | 1 | — | —[upper-alpha 7] | — | —[upper-alpha 8] | 44 | — | 27 | Mixtape 002: Dusk | ||||
"That's Where I Am"[77] | 2022 | 1 | — | 22 | — | 28 | — | — | 35 | Surrender | |||
"Want Want"[78] | 3 | — | 11 | — | 32 | — | 42 | — | |||||
"Horses" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Peak positions | ||
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US [79] |
US Alt [65] |
US Rock [67] | ||
"Iris" (with Phoebe Bridgers) | 2020 | 57 | 5 | 5 |
Title | Year | Peak positions | Album |
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US Rock [67] | |||
"Anywhere with You" | 2022 | 44 | Surrender |
Title | Year | Director |
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"Alaska"[80] | 2016 | Zia Anger |
"Dog Years"[81] | ||
"On + Off"[82] | 2017 | |
"Split Stones"[83] | Maggie Rogers | |
"Back in My Body" (Documentary)[84] | Brendan Hall & Fraser Jones | |
"Fallingwater"[85] | 2018 | Zia Anger |
"Give a Little"[86] | Maggie Rogers and Alan Del Rio Ortiz | |
"Light On"[87] | 2019 | Olivia Bee |
"Past Life" (Documentary)[88] | 2020 | Fraser Jones |
"That's Where I Am"[89] | 2022 | Warren Fu, Maggie Rogers, and Michael Scanlon |
"Want Want"[90] | Warren Fu | |
"Horses"[91] | Maggie Rogers and Michael Scanlon |
Year | Association | Category | Nominated Work | Result | Ref |
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2020 | Grammy Awards | Best New Artist | Herself | Nominated | [92] |
2020 | Girls' Choice Music Awards | Most Empowering Breakout Artist of the Year | Nominated | [93] |
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Singles |
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National libraries | |
Other |
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