“Though it’s dark out in the distance / It’s looking like there might be a new soul,” Maggie Rogers sings, accepting an uncertain future, in her opening song, “It Was Coming All Along,” off her new album “Don’t Forget Me.”
On April 12, Ms. Rogers released her third studio album, which compiles songs of acceptance, sadness, confusion and exhaustion. Ms. Rogers has produced her most real and transparent album yet recorded, while connecting to emotions in past songs.
Ms. Rogers commonly experiments with her music and enjoys doing her own thing, which is great for listeners who don’t want to hear the same repetitive, pop music every day.
“Don’t Forget Me” stands apart from her prior records “Heard it in a Past Life” and “Surrender,” which have more of a “studio-produced” sound with upbeat electronics. “Don’t Forget Me,” reveals more of Ms. Rogers’ acoustic voice and instruments, really allowing her listeners to hear her musical and lyrical talents.
“I feel like this album is more me and it’s what I’ve been wanting to produce for a while,” Ms. Rogers told The New Yorker, in a recent interview.
Ms. Rogers is a great example of an artist who experiments with her vocals and styles of music. She uses her voice to show her desperation, anger and joy throughout her music, which is one reason she gained a quick fan base.
Along with the spectrum of feelings her voice is capable of expressing, Ms. Rogers continues to employ and connect themes of loss and acceptance across her music.
In “Different Kind Of World” the last song of previous album “Surrender,” she describes “[her] hands are shaking, thumbs are sweating” and it’s difficult for her to be alone, but when she’s with her person “it’s a different kind of world.”
In “It Was Coming All Along,” Ms. Rogers implies she lost this person and describes how she does not know what she’s doing and “wishes she wasn’t hanging on,” meaning she wishes she could stop thinking of the past and simply move onto the present.
Ms. Rogers uses desperation in her song “Don’t Forget Me,” when she begs a past relationship to take everything from her, wreck her days, but just don’t forget her.
“I Still Do,” a song where she sings how love is “a reason to risk it all” and is “not something you can give away,” is the most stripped-down song of the album, with only her voice and background piano making it the most emotionally powerful song.
Yet, “Don’t Forget Me,” does not have just one emotion. It’s not a happy album, it’s not all sad and it’s not all angry. It’s an experience of acceptance and growth, of looking toward the future and new possibilities, listeners are lucky enough to experience.
