Margaret Debay Rogers (born April 25, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, Maryland.
[1] After her song "Alaska" was played to artist-in-residence Pharrell Williams during a master class at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2016, she gained widespread recognition.
By the time she was in middle school, Rogers had added piano and guitar to her repertoire and began songwriting in eighth grade.
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.
Rogers saw many of her first concerts at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, including Mumford & Sons and the Black Eyed Peas.
Rogers included her demos as part of her application to the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, was accepted, 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 were compiled into Goodman's 2017 book Meet Me in the Bathroom.
Folk blog EarToTheGround Music explained that the album "...begs for listeners to confront deep personal emotions.
[10] Rogers studied abroad in France while at NYU and after friends convinced her to go clubbing while they were in Berlin, she discovered a love for dance music.
"[15] 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.
She spent this time expanding the writing and research of her MRPL degree, which explored the relationships of religion, spirituality, and pop culture from her vantage point as a performing artist.
[29] Rogers performed during the 2020 Democratic National Convention, appearing remotely from Scarborough, Maine due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
[31][32] The song was released as a one-day exclusive on Bandcamp and was downloaded 28,000 times at a pay what you want cost, with all proceeds going to Fair Fight Action.
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.
[52] Her song "Give a Little" was penned on the same day the National School Walkout demanded congressional action on gun control.
[57] In a post on Twitter that night, she endorsed Sara Gideon, who introduced her performance, in the 2020 United States Senate election in Maine.
[58] While on her Don't Forget Me Tour, Maryland Governor Wes Moore proclaimed June 16, 2024, as Maggie Rogers Day in the state, citing her work registering voters, championing women's reproductive rights, and fighting for fair concert ticket pricing.