Maggie Rogers

Singer/songwriter Maggie Rogers fuses folk, dance, and pop into a sound that balances raw emotion with broad appeal. Following her independent release of two albums filled with inward-looking acoustic material and her growing passion for EDM during college, she first broke through via the 2016 viral sensation "Alaska." Her 2019 major-label debut Heard It in a Past Life applied a pop sheen to her work without abandoning its origins; the set climbed to number two on the Billboard 200 and secured a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. Although 2020's Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016 spotlighted additional early folk recordings, Rogers kept developing her style by adopting a more refined pop approach and advocating for voting rights and women's issues. Shortly after completing her Master of Religion and Public Life degree at Harvard Divinity School, she reentered the Top 20 with the exuberantly anthemic 2022 sophomore album Surrender. After the 2023 duet "Dawns" with Zach Bryan, she previewed her third album, 2024's Don't Forget Me, through its title-track single.

Raised in Easton, Maryland, Rogers took up the harp at age seven and immersed herself in the compositions of Gustav Holst and Vivaldi. Her mother introduced her to neo-soul vocalists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill, and by middle school Rogers had incorporated piano, guitar, and songwriting into her practice. At St. Andrews School in Delaware she discovered the banjo and folk traditions, then attended a Berklee College of Music summer program after her junior year. Winning the program's songwriting contest prompted her to prioritize composition as high school ended. During her senior year she converted a broom closet into a recording space and captured the material that became her 2012 debut The Echo, submitting those demos with her application to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. As a freshman she transcribed and edited interviews for music journalist Lizzy Goodman's 2017 book Meet Me in the Bathroom while interning for Goodman, and she issued the additional folk-oriented 2014 album Blood Ballet during her sophomore year.

In subsequent years Rogers' sound shifted, influenced by her New York City experiences and exposure to electronic music during a period studying abroad in France. She synthesized these strands to widespread acclaim in 2016 with "Alaska," a track composed in fifteen minutes after a hiking excursion for a master class with Pharrell Williams. Footage of a visibly affected Williams hearing the song spread rapidly that June, generating millions of views and hundreds of thousands of streams for The Echo and Blood Ballet. Later that month she issued the completed "Alaska," which reached number 18 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart.

Rogers signed with Capitol Records under terms preserving ownership of her masters and launched her own Debay Sounds label, which released the Now That the Light Is Fading EP in February 2017. The EP single "On + Off" peaked at number 44 on the Hot Rock Songs chart that month. In September 2017 she put out "Split Stones," a live favorite, before focusing on her first full-length album. Produced by Greg Kurstin, Rostam, and Ricky Reed, Heard It in a Past Life arrived in January 2019; that same month the single "Light On" topped Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart and contributed to her Best New Artist nomination at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Later in 2020 Rogers gave a virtual performance at the Democratic National Convention and joined Phoebe Bridgers for a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" benefiting the voting-rights group Fair Fight Action. That December she released Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011 – 2016, a set of early recordings referencing the Echo and Blood Ballet eras along with several previously unheard tracks.

While maintaining her recording career, Rogers pursued graduate work at Harvard Divinity School and earned her Master of Religion and Public Life degree in May 2022. That July she issued her second full-length album Surrender. Working with producer Kid Harpoon, she drew on her religious studies and reflected on global uncertainties through a sequence of defiantly upbeat anthems. The album reached number 12 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top Rock/Alternative Albums chart. The 2023 collaboration "Dawns" with Zach Bryan climbed to number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2024 Rogers delivered her third full-length album Don't Forget Me, led by the introspective yet confident title-track single. Produced alongside songwriter and instrumentalist Ian Fitchuk, the record adopted a leaner, rock- and folk-leaning direction compared with its predecessor. The single ascended to the top of the Adult Alternative Airplay chart, propelling the album into the Top 50 of the Billboard 200 and to number seven on the Top Alternative Albums chart.