Maggie Rogers

During her senior year, she turned a broom closet into a makeshift studio and recorded what became her first album, The Echo (2012). Rogers included her demos as part of her application to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. She released another folk album, Blood Ballet (2014), during her sophomore year at the school. Folk blog EarToTheGround Music explained that the album, "...begs for listeners to confront deep personal emotions." However, her sound was evolving, thanks in part to her discovery of electronic music while studying abroad in France. Rogers united the different strands of her music with huge success in 2016 with "Alaska", a song she wrote in 15 minutes about a hiking trip for a masterclass with Pharrell Williams. A video of a visibly moved Williams listening to the song went viral that June, resulting in millions of views as well as hundreds of thousands of plays of The Echo and Blood Ballet. She cites Carrie Brownstein, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, and Björk as her musical inspirations. Rogers has a brother, named David who attended Gunston Day School. In addition to "Alaska", she has released two other singles, "Dog Years" and "On and Off", which are included on her debut major-label extended play (EP), Now That the Light Is Fading. The EP was released on February 17, 2017.