Maggie Rogers craves simple pleasures and eternal life through memories on her latest single, “Don’t Forget Me,” the first release from her forthcoming third studio album, Don’t Forget Me, out April 12.
“The song is a rough journal entry about going to a bunch of friends’ weddings and feeling so happy for them, but also realizing that I’m very simply in a different place in my life,” Rogers shared in a statement. “I’ve joked with my friends that it’s a song about having low expectations, but really I think it’s about craving simple baselines – a good lover or someone that’s nice to me. When it comes down to it, our memories and relationships are all we have. I don’t have a lot of asks, but I want my time spent on this earth to add up to something. For it all to be worth it in the end.”
She added: “I think remembering someone can be the greatest form of loving because when we remember, the love lives on. When I’m standing at the end of my life, I hope a lifetime of accumulated love is what I’m left with.” Throughout the song, Rogers is willing to give up her money and peaceful Sundays at home if it means the love surrounding her can endure just about anything.
It’s an ethos the singer and songwriter distilled throughout Don’t Forget Me, which features 10 songs channeling the warmth of familiarity. “In many ways, it feels like coming home, returning to the music and songwriting that grounded me when I first started making art in my bedroom when I was 16,” she explained. “My friends keep saying it sounds like the version of me that they know. Something looser, or sassier, or sillier than I’ve shown in public before.”
The album, Rogers added, was co-produced by herself and Ian Fitchuk, who also co-wrote eight songs. It initially existed as a collection of demos to be recorded later with a full band, but her creative process changed entirely when she realized that trying too hard to shape it into any one thing was taking away from its emotional core. The album was written in chronological order across five days: three in December 2022 and two in January 2023. “Don’t Forget Me” was the final piece of the puzzle.
“I think it’s inherent that we give and take from each other. And that even with all the best intentions there can be some destruction too – take my money, wreck my Sundays. There are simple things I think we’d all give up for love. I think it’s just about wanting our sacrifices or suffering to be meaningful. To have it all not be forgotten. Don’t forget me,” Rogers shared. “This has been such a transformational and special time in my life. I’m so grateful for many years of support and care I’ve been offered to let me come to all of this in my way and in my time. I can honestly say I’m more ready than I’ve ever been…and most importantly, I’m having a blast. I hope you love this record as much as I do.”
Don’t Forget Me follows Rogers’ second studio album Surrender, which arrived in 2022.
Don’t Forget Me Tracklist
Side A
“It Was Coming All Along”
“Drunk”
“So Sick of Dreaming”
“The Kill”
“If Now Was Then”
Side B
“I Still Do”
“On & On & On”
“Never Going Home”
“All The Same”
“Don’t Forget Me”