c/o Maggie Rogers
Maggie Rogers first rose to prominence after a video of her class at the New York University Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where Pharrell Williams was holding a masterclass, went viral. In the video, she entranced Williams with her demo of “Alaska.” Williams was amazed by the song, stating “I have zero, zero, zero notes. Because you’re doing your own thing. It’s singular.” This was the public’s introduction to Maggie Roger’ rare, ingenuous talent.
After graduating from NYU, she released her debut studio album, Heard It in a Past Life (2019), which explored themes of growing up through an indie pop beat. Rogers was applauded for her ingenuity and authenticity and for the way she combined elements of dance-electronic, folk, and pop music to form an unforgettable debut album from such a young artist. The album was met with both widespread acclaim and a Grammy nomination, and Rogers was quickly labeled one of the most exciting up-and-coming artists of her generation. Her sophomore album, Surrender (2022), largely diverged from the pop-centric, experimental sound of her debut and explored new, rock-heavy, ’80s pop elements. Through the stark contrast between these albums, Rogers cemented herself as a fearless artist unable to be tied to a single genre or sound.
In Don’t Forget Me, her newest studio album, released on Friday, April 12, Rogers delivers her best work yet. Rogers preserves the lyrical and melodic essence of her debut album while meshing it with the pop-rock, Fleetwood Mac-esque nucleus of her sophomore work. The album perfectly matches its vocal production to Rogers’ incredibly strong vocal performances, highlighting the strength and passion characteristic to both her voice and her lyrics. With all the inspired lyrical, melodic, and vocal elements that form the body of this album, Don’t Forget Me is a truly great piece of work.
At 30 years old, Rogers reflects on her past heartbreaks, memories of growing up, and feelings of getting older in Don’t Forget Me. The progression of the album highlights all of the conflicting feelings in leaving a long-term relationship—sadness, anger, liberation, desperation. We feel Rogers processing, in real time, these intense and vulnerable emotions. To fully enjoy the structural ingenuity and maturity of this record, it should therefore be listened to chronologically and in full.
The album opens with panicky existentialism on “It Was Coming All Along,” which explores the anxiety associated with getting older through Rogers’ memories of leaving her childhood home and breaking up with her high school sweetheart. “Drunk” establishes Rogers’ real maturity as an artist through the acceptance of growing up and leaving youthful memories behind to reach adulthood. “So Sick of Dreaming” begins to unpack painful heartbreak, discussing the difficulties of dating. “The Kill,” one of my personal favorites, reflects on a past relationship and explores the desperate desire to make a doomed relationship work.
“Ooh, we were just wasting time ’cause we were hurting / But I know that you know that I know you best,” Rogers sings. “And I know that we both can forget all the rest / We both were so difficult but so invincible / Irresistible, but I loved you still.”
In “If Now Was Then,” Rogers explores her deep regret for the same past relationship.
“I’d take it back, but I can’t, I’m sorry,” Rogers sings.
By the end of the song, Rogers admits that, if she could, she would return back to the relationship.
“Oh, the things I’d do, oh, if now was then / But you can’t take it back,” Rogers sings.
Perhaps the most emotional song, “I Still Do,” questions the very structure of love on a soft piano ballad. In a similar lyrical progression to “If Now Was Then,” Rogers admits that she is still in love with her ex. With “On & On & On,” she expresses her frustration and anger with her ex-partner’s behavior, while “Never Going Home” explains that, though she is still being haunted by the memories of her past relationship, she is trying desperately to heal. This culminates in “All the Same,” which serves as an emotional continuation to “I Still Do” as she reveals, at the end of the song, that her partner chose to leave her, while she is desperate to have one last moment in their relationship.
“Give me the chance to wake up in a full romance,” Rogers sings. “Just knowing that you chose to stay.”
The title song, “Don’t Forget Me,” expresses Rogers’ disillusionment with getting older, though she establishes at the end of the album that she is willing to try to love again despite all of her heartbreak.
The album succeeds greatly in its pathos, with honest and emotionally reminiscent lyrics. Many songs, however, feel predictable, generic, and sometimes dull. The melodic progressions and hooks often blend together and are rarely unique enough to stand out. They’re the type of songs you think you have heard before.
For me, the album’s brilliance comes from its peculiar sense of authenticity: Rarely in this modern age of music do we see artists who value the coherence of an album over the success of singles. Because of this holistic approach, fans worship Rogers for her pure artistry rather than catchy singles, resulting in a strange modern celebrity status. Rogers simultaneously reaches large audiences and rejects fame in the commercial sense. She truly establishes herself as an artistically driven, album-focused artist who has paved her own way toward stardom in Don’t Forget Me—her best album yet.
Carter Appleyard can be reached at cappleyard@wesleyan.edu.