Maggie Rogers goes back to her roots with “Don't Forget Me”
Written by Molly Lowney
Don’t Forget Me is a stark contrast to the version of Maggie Rogers that we all came to know during her sophomore album, Surrender. A punchy, production-heavy alternative pop LP, Surrender invoked images of a fast-paced city life, imbued with the adrenaline rush of spilling your secrets. Don’t Forget Me is a complete departure from that sentiment, with its stripped-back production and nostalgic lyricism, it is a stronger callback to Rogers’ earlier works like Love You For A Long Time. The song is simple and grounded. Nostalgia bubbles to the surface when you listen, accompanied by images of late summer golden light and a green countryside rushing by a car window. In Don’t Forget Me, Rogers processes the feelings of isolation that creep in as more of her close friends get married: “My friend Sally's getting married/And to me that sounds so scary/ I'm still tryin' to clean up my side of the street.”
She grapples with feeling left behind as her community shifts around her. Throughout the song, she emphasizes that she wouldn’t make the same choices as her friends: “But it's crazy all the days she spends/Just following him to parties/She seems happy, oh, but that's not love to me.” Throughout the four-and-a-half-minute song, she explores her desire to be loved and the loss of control she feels as her close friends move into a new phase of life.
Don’t Forget Me is both a confession of Rogers’ desires and fears surrounding love, but also a plea for her friendships to stay everlasting. It’s layered with themes core to the human experience and is paired with timeless instrumentals and production. As the lead single for Rogers’ third studio album, Don’t Forget Me has made a lasting impression.
Maggie Rogers will release Don’t Forget Me, the 10-song studio album, on April 12, 2024.
