Maggie Rogers throws us back to the 90s and 2000s, with “That’s Where I Am”

Maggie Rogers’ debut somehow felt like it came and went without much of a trace. Yet it charted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, made a whole bunch of best lists in 2019, got streamed the fuck out of, and even earned her a Grammy nomination.

I wasn’t big into Maggie’s debut. Not that it wasn’t a good album. It just didn’t grab me as a whole. Although one song really did have me in an ankle lock for a minute, and that was “Give a Little”, which was a great song that I still play.

But after a critically acclaimed album and a cute EP of pre record deal material, Maggie is back with a whole new sound and look. And it’s doing wonders for her, and working for me in ways her debut didn’t.

Now, THIS feels like an arrival.

Maggie went from the quiet, shy girl who used to cover, cower and hide herself, to this chick who is giving titty through tank tops, pum-pum shorts, sheer dresses and strutting through New York City.

Okay bitch. You better come through with the transformation.

The sound, the song itself, the music video. It’s 90s / early 2000s as fuck. It’s giving me The Cranberries’ “Linger”, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, R.E.M, with a touch of Madonna’s “Ray of Light”. The latter of which was Madonna just doing what everybody else had already done by that point anyway. As is always the case with her.

Everything about “That’s Where I Am” is doing it for me. I do wonder how well this will do commercially. It’s a big visual and sonic departure from what Maggie originally came onto the scene with, but hopefully it lands. “That’s Where I Am” feels fresh and presents a much better branded package for Maggie as a pop artist. Her debut was very any chick, which worked at time when a bunch of un-glammed, round-the-way white girl acts were also dropping songs and albums which were getting attention and being certified triple coat-hanger in H&M stores. Haim to name one.

The strength of this song and the whole vibe has me watching this space. Maggie’s second studio album Surrender (such a 90s / early 2000s title) releases on July 29, 2022.