The first pop song Maggie Rogers “fell in love with”
Listening to Maggie Rogers often feels like being transported to another world. Even though there might be only a few elements in the mix in a handful of her songs, her ability to wear her heart on her sleeve in every one of her tunes makes every album feel like it’s written especially for the listener, bringing an intimacy that no one else can touch. Although Rogers has prided herself on putting organic instruments into the mix, one of her biggest conversions to pop music began in the 2010s.
Before working on her compositions, Rogers started in music when working in folk music. Throughout high school, Rogers would even joke that she was becoming known as the girl who played the banjo that catered to rootsier music than what was heard on the radio.
When she started to get used to mainstream music, though, Rogers remembered her eureka moment when listening to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for the first time. While the former Fugees frontwoman had encapsulated neo-soul in a way few could match on her lone album, that would be Rogers’ first taste of what kind of sounds could get played on the radio.
Beyond the mainstream audience, Rogers also started to open her eyes to the possibilities of electronic music. Listening to albums like Homogenic by Björk, Rogers began to see a way forward focused on pushing the limits of various sequencers rather than blowing people’s minds with organic instruments.
All of these steps were pointing Rogers in the direction of popular music, but it took one song to convert her into a connoisseur of pop music. Around the time she was starting to make her music, Rogers was knocked out the first time she heard Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit, ‘Run Away With Me’.
Slightly reminiscent of the 1980s, the production and performance from Jepsen on this tune are sublime, taking the kind of emotions of whirlwind romance and capturing them in less than four minutes. While many instrumentalists may have scoffed at the significant production behind the song, Rogers was inspired when she laid ears on it.
Speaking with Line of Best Fit, Rogers remembered falling head over heels for the song, saying, “‘Run Away With Me’ was the first pop song that I ever really fell in love with, and it made me understand there was a version of pop music that I could make, that could combine all the things I love”.
Despite making numerous songs that dealt with the darker side of life, Rogers would also say that the song helped her to write about the positive aspects of life as well, explaining, “This song made me realise I could honour the lighter side of life in my writing. I realised that my songs didn’t have to be a direct reflection on my morals or something more serious, it could just be a diary entry about what my week looked like”.
Going through her discography thus far, Rogers has taken that mentality to heart as well. Whether it’s the stirring sounds of Surrender or the pure jubilation of Heard It In a Past Life, every piece of her back catalogue is informed by her experiences rather than dwelling on the pain. Even though some of the best songs in the world are born out of great heartache, Jepsen helped Rogers embrace the lighter side of her musical palette.
