April 12 marked a glorious day for fans of sad indie-pop: the release of Maggie Rogers’ long-awaited third studio album “Don’t Forget Me.” Later that evening, Mandy and Olivia opened a bottle of shitty rosé and set the mood with the pink-bulbed lamp in their living room to listen to the album in its entirety. There was no better way to spend a Friday night than taking in Rogers’ raw, nostalgic lyrics as she reflects on past heartbreaks and love in its fullest form.
Rogers wrote the songs in chronological order over just five days, two songs a day in December 2022 and January 2023. She said it best in an Instagram post made a few months before the album’s release, describing the collection of songs as “feeling like coming home.”
“Don’t Forget Me” speaks to both who we were then and who we are now with a vulnerability and honesty that’s often hard to come by — it’s a masterpiece about reassurance while still processing past hurt. After their listening party, Mandy and Olivia shared their many thoughts on what they think may be Rogers’ best album yet.
The track “It Was Coming All Along” opens Rogers’ album — a gentle yet clear-sighted retrospection of a past relationship that continues to occupy her thoughts despite it having ended years before. In her world, which she describes as “a honey shade of blue,” Rogers recounts the all-too-familiar attempt to pinpoint where things went wrong even though you can admit to the gut feeling that the end “was coming all along.” With a wisdom that continually reveals itself throughout the album, she speaks to the difficulty of hanging on but wanting to let go in a way that we all can relate to.
In contrast, the subsequent song “Drunk” shows Rogers “lost in wishful thinking,” leaning into lust and ignoring the voices telling her to think straight.
Rogers’ second single “So Sick of Dreaming” emphasizes the singer’s frustration and disillusionment with dating. With its light country/folk-pop sound, the singer channels her disappointment through an embittered chorus in which she sings, “if you think that life without me’s like a heart attack, take a long look in the mirror and be good with that.” The song breaks its consistent flow during the bridge, where Rogers shares a story about a guy who stood her up for a Knicks game. Rogers skillfully crafts a low-key breakup song infused with the perfect amount of frustration towards inconsiderate dates and her own romanticizing tendencies.
“So difficult, but so invincible, irresistible, but I loved you still,” Rogers sings on “The Kill,” where she unpacks the back and forth of longing and withdrawing in a previous love. In the first chorus, she sings of “the shoes you laid down for me from the girls that came before, I was all the way in, you were halfway out the door.” In the second chorus, she subtly switches the pronouns from “you” to “I”, highlighting how her partner is now the committed one and she has now become distant. Perhaps more than any other song on the album, Rogers proves once again that love can be a messy affair of falling in and out of sync.
The next two tracks on the album, “If Now Was Then” and “I Still Do,” not only feature some of the rawest songwriting on the entire album but also share one of the most profound lessons about love. At first, Rogers is filled with regret as she wishes that she could go back in time and do things differently on “If Now Was Then.” But on “I Still Do,” she reminds us that, while we shouldn’t lose ourselves in the process, love is still worth it. It’s “not the final straw, but it’s always a reason to risk it all.”
On her next track “On & On & On,”’ Rogers sings a simple yet undeniably catchy chorus. Keeping with the album’s theme of retrospection on past relationships, Rogers addresses a former partner’s emotional mistreatment of her and reminds them of their mistakes with the repetition in the chorus. She takes back control from her former lover’s bad attitude and habits, singing “it’ll be comin’ back to bite you like a dog, you know you better run for cover ‘cause it goes on and on and on when you hear this song.” Rogers discourages her ex from reaching back out and triumphantly ends the song telling them that “when you realize the things that you lack, better think twice ‘fore callin’ me back.” Rogers showcases her ability to create a traditional break-up ballad that conveys her agency and maintains her sound.
The following song is entitled “Never Going Home” and shows the singer reveling in a night out where she wore red lipstick “like a hero.” Maintaining the folk sound throughout the album, Rogers creates both a playful and forlorn scene in which she catches “a glimpse of someone with kind eyes, dancing, whose jacket’s the same color as the seats in your car.” Similarly to “If Now Was Then,” Rogers wishes past events had panned out differently, and channels these emotions through a night-out at the bar having a casual fling.
Many of the songs on Rogers’ third album are guaranteed to get stuck in your head, but “Never Going Home” has some of the most compelling verses and chorus (according to Olivia, who enjoyed this song the most and confirmed that one can certifiably vogue to its beat).
One of her slower songs on the album, “All The Same” begins with soft acoustic guitar. Its chorus rings out with Rogers’ clear vocals singing “until one day, you wake up and realize that what you see is what you know.” This song is candid, as the singer longs to change the way certain events have transpired, pining for “a full romance” if only “just to keep on hoping.” In its brevity, “All The Same” shows Rogers wishfully reminiscing on a past relationship that she still longs for and mourns, knowing the other person does not share her feelings.
The lead single and title track “Don’t Forget Me” closes out Rogers’ album with an endearing sincerity that leaves every person who listens with a feeling of warmth. Opening the song with the admission that “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,” Rogers narrates being in a different place in life than many of those around her. At the same time, she makes clear the kind of love she wants: “a good lover or someone who’s nice to me,” who will “take my money, wreck my Sundays … but promise me that when it’s time to leave: don’t forget me.”
For Rogers, love isn’t something that becomes forgotten with time or heartache — the memories last forever, and at the end of the day, it’s all we have. There’s no other way to describe the song than gut-wrenchingly beautiful, and it is Mandy’s favorite off the entire album.
“Don’t Forget Me” is Maggie Rogers’ most cohesive album to date, and its folk influence is clear and blends seamlessly with Rogers’ signature indie-pop sound. This consistent sound on her third album makes even some of her more heartbreaking songs still unquestionably catchy and easy to dance to in your living room. Rogers’ new music contains stunning, reflective lyrics that will resonate with any young person who feels like they’re falling behind in life or stuck in the memories of a past love.
Overall, Mandy and Olivia were in awe of “Don’t Forget Me” and would even go as far as to call this a ‘no skips’ album (although you should know before going into it that many of these songs will devastate you).
Oh, “and, by the way, the Knicks lost!”
