Is 2024 the year your favourite artist delves into Country? In a time when Country is no longer a dirty word in many musical milieus, it seems 2024 is just as good a time as any for non-traditional Country artists to dip their toes into the scene and see where it takes them Maggie Rogers, with her new album Don’t Forget Me, is one of these artists.
Maggie isn’t a stranger to this more earnest and wholesome side of music. With her first two albums leaning into the space in varying degrees, Rogers took things up a level when featuring on “Dawns” with Zach Bryan last year. This opened a new door for the Maryland artist, one she has fully embraced here on Don’t Forget Me. Lead single and album titular “Don’t Forget Me” is a slower and reflective love song that contemplates her own love life and those of her friends. The song is simple enough in its composition, with calming drums and guitars, with flickers of piano that add a level of spice. Second single “So Sick of Dreaming” feels like it could have been from Taylor Swift’s Fearless album, with Rogers’ vocals the real leading moment, as she laments a former flame’s inability to not make time for her. It’s a cruisey four-minutes that gives the listener a real look at what the rest of the album aims to achieve.
At ten songs and 36 minutes in length, Don’t Forget Me is a pleasant and easy listen, with each of the tracks bleeding into one other seamlessly, with hints of former Rogers eras seeping through (“I Still Do It” and “ If Now Was Then” are the reflective and heartfelt tones from Heard It In A Past Life, while “Drunk” has the punch of Surrender’s “Shatter”, with hints of a little Stevie Knicks for good measure).
The songwriting of Maggie Rogers has evolved once more on the album, just as it did from her first album to second release. You can sense she is now comfortable as an artist, not burdened by comparisons and the need to sound a certain way in the public’s eyes. This is evident on “The Kill”. A winner if there ever was to be one on the album, there is a relentless punch that draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the closing second. Once more, Rogers’ vocals are as strong as ever, and will undoubtedly be the pinnacle during live sets.
There is an underrated funk on “On & On & On” which again showcases the progression of Rogers, while “Never Going Home” is the most country on the album, with imagery enticing the listener to feel as if they’ve walked in Maggie’s shoes through the album’s writing process. It’s undeniably catchy and will be a live stand out.
The range on the album is probably the key difference between Don’t Forget Me and its predecessors. While definitely in the country realm, it branches wide enough that you know Rogers was willing to try some things out on the album, and if it didn’t hit, it wasn’t going to worry her too much. There’s a level of risk on Don’t Forget Me that makes you realise that Maggie Rogers isn’t a flash in the pan and will be around for a long while. From opening song “It Was Coming All Along” with its delicately layered harmonies, to the second-to-last acoustic feast in “All The Same”, there is enough here on Don’t Forget Me to get the oldest and newest of Maggie Rogers fans excited.
I’m not sure if Don’t Forget Me will reach the heights of Maggie Rogers’ first albums, but it really doesn’t have to. There is enough progression, wanderlust and wholesomeness on the album to know it will be one of the year’s best; irrespective of genre.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Don’t Forget Me is out now.
Header image credit: Maddy Rotman
