In 2016, a clip of Pharrell Williams being visibly moved by Rogers’ song ‘Alaska’ during a songwriting masterclass at New York University (NYU), her alma mater, went viral. The album also earned Rogers a Best New Artist Grammy nomination in 2020 (she would lose out to Billie Eilish) and boldly reintroduced a singer who was always destined to outgrow her fairytale story of internet discovery. It was an album that propelled Rogers even further into the spotlight, setting her up for a huge world tour and garnering praise from the likes of John Mayer and the Obamas – the latter pair even sending her a letter in which they described themselves as “huge fans”. It’s been over three years since the release of her debut album ‘Heard It In a Past Life’ – a soul-baring journey through heartache, growth and self-discovery – which NME described as the work of an “idiosyncratic talent” who writes “empowering, honest songs about falling hopelessly in love, getting your heart broken, discovering your self-worth and picking yourself up off the floor”. So stay with me.” She’s already moved NME’s dictaphone closer to her so she can speak a little quieter, still fatigued from jetlag, having flown into London just a few days before. “I’m trying to be really present with you, and I’m just struggling a little bit. “Post-pandemic, this takes so much more energy,” she says after taking a second to reset, just two questions in. It was a process of surrender that, unsurprisingly, proves taxing to open up about. So much of this record is about giving into feeling.” “When you’re feeling them, they completely take over. “Joy and anger are two motions that really ask you to full-body give in,” she says, coffee and half-eaten porridge in front of her. Two months before the album’s release, NME meets Rogers in the dimly-lit restaurant of a central London hotel just before lunchtime, where the US singer-songwriter reflects on the spectrum of emotions she unearthed during the writing process. It tells you everything you need to know about her new album ‘Surrender’ – that Rogers is ready to live larger, sing louder and feel deeper than ever. It’s the kind of joy that’s boundless, unstoppable – almost feral. She twirls and punches the air in a turquoise, feather lined jacket, charging ahead at full speed as ecstasy beams across her face, like she’s finally found herself at the end of her own coming-of-age film. In the music video for Maggie Rogers’ single ‘That’s Where I Am’, she dances across a New York bridge during golden hour with reckless abandon.
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