To 'Alaska' And Beyond: A Look Back At Maggie Rogers's Defining Moments
In August 2017, after
Maggie Rogers descended the stage following a bubbly Lollapalooza set in Chicago's Grant Park, she described what it felt like to first walk out on stage and take in the rush of the fans around her. "It sort of feels like I got electrocuted however in the ideal way," she
told MTV News, standing in a sparkling red suit adorned with glitter. She was riding the high of her debut EP,
Now That the Light Is Fading, which dropped six months before, and the propulsion she felt immediately after a video of Pharrell hearing (and loving) her song "Alaska" went viral. Maggie was already looking forward to what was next.
Right now we know what that was. Her first full-length album,
Heard It In a Past Life, is out right now, and it's filled with heartfelt examinations of self, wrapped around several exploratory musical styles and disciplines. All of these are hers, also, an elegant not often afforded to a young artist searching to define her own beginnings. "From a strict company perspective, the Pharrell video gave me enough leverage to mention, 'These are the terms, who wants to do the deal?'" Maggie recently
told Billboard. "I was a 22-year-old woman who got to walk into a boardroom and be the one in control."
As she unveils
Heard It In a Past Life, here's a look back on the career milestones that brought her this far. It all started, obviously, in the studio.
March 2016: The Pharrell Video
What It Is: The clip that began it all.
What It Means: As a music student at NYU, Rogers attended a masterclass led by
Pharrell and played him her song "Alaska," which she wrote and produced. "I have zero, zero, zero notes for that," he mentioned, "and I'll tell you why: It's because you're doing your own thing." The clip went understandably viral, and even if he didn't actually cry (like
so many clicky titles suggested), Pharrell gave Maggie and her warm, naturalistic, folk-inspired pop a uncensored co-sign right off the bat. A star was about to be born.
October 2016: "Alaska" Music Video
What It Is: Her first visual artsy statement.
What It Means: If the Pharrell masterclass was an audition, the "Alaksa" video that dropped later that year was Maggie's genuine unveiling (and on a major label no much less. Away from the studio, away from her classmates, and away from civilization, she was free to roam the woods and showcase the vision she wanted us to be able to see. It's one that resembles Maggie's own model of creation, rustic and bolstered by an accommodating crew who just want her to dance like no one is watching — although as of this writing, over 11 million have.
February 2017: Now That the Light Is Fading
What It Is: Her debut EP.
What It Means: "Alaska" is just one segment of the puzzle here. The rest of Maggie's debut EP runs the gamut from equally earthy indie pop ("On + Off") to the deeper, more adventurous grooves on "Dog Years" and "Better." "People heard me speak before they heard my music for the opening time," Rogers
told the
Village Voice as its cover star in April 2017, "so right now the only real responsibility that I have is to be myself." It led to profile-boosting spots on
The Tonight Show and
Late Night and even more anticipation for a genuine album.
September 2017: "Split Stones" And The Close Of One Chapter
What It Is: A long exhale taken soon after a dizzying whirlwind.
What It Means: "My EP told you everything I felt throughout my last semester of college," she wrote on Instagram any time this tender ode to moving on dropped. "It's time for me to tell you the story of everything that's happened since." The song, which she wrote in college had performed for nine months on the road, isn't quite that, yet Maggie presented it as a "parting gift" before she took some time off. Its terrestrial lushness complements a larger, more assured chorus, mirroring the growth she endured since "Alaska," something she obliquely nodded to in the note: "Here's to the end of the starting and the begin of everything else."
March 2018: Back In My Body And The Starting Of A New One
What It Is: The subsequent deep breath in.
What It Means: Shot by her NYU pals Fraser Jones and Brendan Hall, this slice-of-life doc captures a moment of zen for Maggie, who's photographed in her organic element among the snow and onstage in front of hundreds. "I think making space to remember who you are can be one of the most crucial things for music, or for creation," Maggie says at the begin of the doc. That sort of self-reflection is useful for what came next.
November 2018: Saturday Night Live
What It Is: career milestone, as well as a redefinition.
What It Means: No longer "the girl from the Pharrell video," however conceivably, "the girl from
SNL" (and from tours with
Mumford & Sons and
Haim), Maggie brought two new sides of herself to show. The initial, "Light On," is an earnest, full-throated examination of her life in the spotlight for now — sample lyrics: "Crying in the washroom, had to figure it out / With each person around me saying, 'You must be so happy right now She performed the second, "
Fallingwater," with
trusted collaborator Rostam by her side, showcasing a chunkier dive into bold piano chords. It's a whole new Maggie. And she's only getting started.
December 2018: Covering Taylor Swift
What It Is: A reminder of where she came from.
What It Means: In a little bit of a wink to her banjo-filled roots in Maryland, Maggie took on
Taylor Swift's breakout 2006 hit "Tim McGraw" for a Spotify Singles collection. Packaged with a stripped-down rendition of "Light On," the cover becomes poignant with nostalgia. It also places her firmly in a particular lineage of experimental, acoustic-based young songwriters writing from the heart about their own experiences. That's why she imbues it with her aspects electronic-adjacent slickness, a potent symbol of
now. "This song is classic songwriting at its finest and has meant so much to me for the last 10 years,"
she wrote upon its release — shortly soon after she played two night at Madison Square Garden.
January 2019: Heard It in a Past Life
What It Is: Her debut album, out Friday (January 18).
What It Means: "I've thrown the most weak segment of me up into the air," she recently
told Billboard about the 12 songs here. "I'm waiting for someone to catch it." With collaborations between Maggie and Greg Kurstin (the elated Haim shuffle-bop "Give A little bit) and also Rostam and Kid Harpoon,
Past Life feels somehow like both a greatest hits ("Alaska," "On + Off") along with a spring-loaded catapult of bold new statements willing to be unleashed. Past life? Sounds more like future.
Listen here.
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