This artist is not only extremely talented, but very intelligent. At an age when most people would have just grabbed the spotlight and ridden the wave, Ms. Rogers had the brains to realize things were not quite right and she took a step back. By doing this she has positioned herself with a firm foundation for a wonderful future. All the best to her.
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And we can’t see the video why?
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I saw her on SNL and was mesmerized by her style and her music. I'm not sure why anyone would criticize a person for educating them selves in order to follow their dream. She is obviously very bright. Good for her. I just bought her latest album on iTunes and am enjoying it immensely.
Im sure she isn't the first person to get his/her break by using their wits.
7
Just listen to the track. It's great. Let her be herself.
And before criticizing her, try being in her position. It's a challenge.
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In an industry chock full of pretentious and minimally talented "artists", Rogers is on another path. While her sound/style is far from truly "new" (as Pharrell implied), it is imbued with an authenticity and heart that makes her a relevant force in contemporary music. So many of her peers are great performers but lack real musical chops. The fact she wrote, composed and performed most everything on her LP shows her undeniable talent.
Say what you will about Pharrell, but it's fascinating to observe an audience transported. There's a truth wrapped in his facial contortions.
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She is a true artist and I love her music. Photo shoot did not reflect the seriousness of her narrative - what's with the hair pulling, towel-head and bare midriff? I hope she was in on the decision-making and there's some great feminist rationale for making this choice.
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I do wish that this article had started off focusing more on what Maggie Rogers sounds like first rather than what she looks like. It is still about the music.
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@Natalie I had the same thought exactly! How many young men get written about this way - where their looks are even mentioned at all? I mean, seriously?
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I so appreciate Maggie's ability to self-criticize - not just in her music, but in the way she analyzes her own trajectory. It makes me sad to think that others may see her as anything less than the talented artist that she is. This album allows me to feel hope and joy for other young women in an age where it is much easier to sulk in despair, and I've had it on repeat all day.
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Google is tired of hearing me say “play Maggie Rogers”. She takes me back to my twenties in such a good way.
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@Penny my best friend (we were hippie kids in the late 60s) told me to check her out--we looked like Maggie! Can't wait to explore her music.
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Truth & Beauty, stay the course.
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This is cultural relativism at its most inane. There isn't one original note in this music. Meanwhile the Ring Cycle barely rises to the level of a comic book, and yet this woman is regarded here as if, as a lyricist, she's Sylvia Plath. Or why stop there? How about Rilke? Or Shakespeare of the sonnets?
"Articulate intensity", huh? For holding a normal conversation?
"Wowed", indeed. That, or the end of civilization.
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Can't wait to finally hear this entire album. I'm already obsessed.
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Just acknowledge that you got where you are because of a tremendous stroke of good luck, and then take it from there. You were only a college senior--from a coddled, privileged background, attending a rich-person school, with many connections--when you got "discovered." You didn't spend decades toiling away in your room at night after days working a 9-to-5 job, like so many vastly talented singer-songwriters. Please.
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This is cut from the article. Perhaps you didn’t read it in its entirety.
“Part of success is having a good story, and as a journalist I totally understand,” she said. “But it meant that my many, many years of focus and hard work got kind of prepackaged into a Cinderella story. I’m super grateful that it happened, but it left me feeling like I never got to be a full human in the experience.”
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Wow, Parrell said she is so unique.
Apparently he never heard the music of Lorde.
Not only does "Alaska" have a similar production of many of Lorde's tunes, it shares melody with one.
Lorde is great, and I like Ms. Rogers's music.
But for whatever reason, there is always a drive to anoint somebody as the Next Big Thing.
It might as well be Maggie...
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@MT
Alice Phoebe Lou is an even closer match, I think.
There is nothing wrong with Maggie Rogers but Pharrell needs to get out more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuAXv5qaSbQ&index=2&list=RDNPH9j0qVM3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPH9j0qVM3A
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You mention her focus on marketing, but a lot of recent press has been more explicit about her 30 page college thesis about how she would exploit branding partnerships, etc. I've never seen a more craven overhyped industry plant in my life.
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Are those accounts accurate? Have they taken phrases out of context? Have you seen the thesis itself?!
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@Marsha Pembroke
Yes of course her intense focus on marketing/branding is true; nothing makes it clearer than her very bland music getting such a unrelenting industry push.
I hate to begrudge any young woman her success in an industry which usually underappreciates even the best of them...but Ms. Rodgers' case is a really dystopian vision of modern artistic success.
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“Industry plant”? Are you sure you’re referring to the same songwriter profiled in the piece? Perhaps you’ve confused her with someone else.
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An astonishing talent ~ in the most complexly lovely sense of the word. Looking forward to listening to her journey...
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She's such a terrific songwriter, and I love her singing style. Both are all her own. I can't imagine what an insane amusement park roller coaster she got loaded into after that video went viral, and I was really hoping she'd get the time and space to find herself again.
So many acts that go on SNL have their performances polished to a shine - they might as well lip sync given how rigidly they perform. I know she took some flak about being "awkward". She was just about as awkward as the person she was singing about, and the moments she was singing about. She was having a blast. It was all refreshingly real, and joyful.
Looking forward to where she goes next.
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@EdNaz
Yeah, I thought her "awkwardness" on SNL was completely charming, and, as you say, refreshing and unaffected. It was enough to make me watch both her performances (I usually skip over the musical segments on SNL as I feel burned by some offerings—Katy Perry, for example), and to go find her videos online. Of course, her music is the main attraction; I'm glad she's making headway in her career.
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Agree. I remember thinking at the time her performance on SNL was refreshingly honest. She seemed to be enjoying singing so much she couldn't help dancing, in a kind of geeky way.
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I love her so much.
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Maggie Rogers is a very refreshing talent, and I'll definitely leave my light on to welcome her artistic journey.
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