Surrender by Maggie Rogers
Album Review #1
a poem inspired by surrender:
james dean loved his life in overdrive
that’s what they say about him
about me they probably say how
i’m always wherever you are
glasgow rain and old french films
that’s where i am
and you’re here too and I’m all
you want, want I you too?
you know that in my dreams
i say i’d go anywhere with you
and at this point I’m wondering
why it seems like you’ve never got
your horses saddled for us to run away
you touch and almost kiss me and this is
a danger zone and i pray and scream
in my mind for you to just be cool
you shouldn’t shatter your relationship
with her, but isn’t this exactly what I dreamt of?
isn’t this the rain I begged for?
can’t take you begging for rain on,
not now, not like this
i’m grateful though
i’ve got a friend through you
and i can see her in my great unknown future
but other than that, cowboy of my dreams
honey, can’t you hear the orchestra playing
the symphony of our love, they play and play
and we dance and dance until the earliest hours of day
cause that’s when we awake to a different kind of world
the kind of world i won’t lose my mind in a hotel room with you
This poem was written by Bonnie Orbison. You can read more of her poetry and support her on
I remember exactly how disappointed I had been finding Heard It In a Past Life exactly six months after its release. Maggie Rogers called out what my heart spoke so deeply that I truly wished she would’ve been there earlier for me like a sister.
Maggie Rogers grew on my heart like a sister, a good friend who’s there for me whenever I needed to cry, scream, stomp and slam doors. She’s been there for so many and her music is a gift to us. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Surrender started the month I barely wanted to get out of my bed, grieved over a stupid call and started writing poetry to a guy I labeled later on the cowboy of my dreams who stole my heart and never called me and will soon be immortalised in my poetry collection Pretty Tennessee.
My day had been made the moment Maggie had commented on my TikTok announcing that whenever she released an album a new chapter of my life would knock on my door. Surrender truly made the soundtrack for whatever years have already passed since its release. That’s Where I Am got played to boost me up for my final exams, Want Want became a song I sent to some guy that then decided to stood me up for prom and at last Begging For Rain blasted through my headphones an entire night during a wild fight of my parents.
Overdrive is a song you have to listen to while driving - duh? There’s nothing more therapeutic, I swear to my grandma with this statement. Same with Shatter, what for a song to shout the lyrics too while the windows are rolled down and you get closer to the steering wheel.
Horses is truly the song that always makes me sob. If that was during the time I desperately wanted to love someone or later when the I tried to accept the beautiful dreams of one cowboy that only made my heart ache and long for a pair of arms that weren’t there wouldn’t stop. The lyrics
the truth about dreams
is there a feeling that meets you in between
what you want an what you really need
make my heart audibly crack and splitter. I do have a bike memory with this song. I didn’t even listen to music. Rain poured down my entire body (the kind of rain that feels soaked in the deepest bone) and I just started to scream the song between riding through Summer fields. Afterwards one couldn’t have been sure if I was wet all over cause of the storm or if it moreover had been the thunders inside my soul.
I saw Maggie Rogers three times in the last year.
First at Alexandra Palace in London on the November 10th - I stood second row (thankfully due to the closeness of my airbnb) and my mind had been a chaos with solo-traveling for the first time. What for a legendary concert - I hope it’ll go in the books.
Second then at Primavera in Barcelona, again heartbroken and stood up, I experienced the old and new pain once more. There were times where I wanted to cry and just knee down. Others I furiously screamed so loud to
who were you then
and who is she now?
did she know we were together, somehow?
you never touched me
but i felt you everywhere
that others were encircling me, screaming with me. That was one of the most healing moments I ever experienced I believe.
But nothing tops the moment she started singing Light On, I felt my soul leaving my body, flying up to Tim. I lost him in 2019 and the song had helped me grieving. Barcelona had been the place my brother had introduced me to his best friend that in seconds became our brother.
24 hours later, I saw Maggie Rogers again at a smaller venue in the city and the moment she started singing Light On, it felt like my soul returned back to my body (you see what I did there - hehe). It was honestly a breathtaking experience and I’m still wondering what I did during those 24 hours cause I have no recollection of it lol. (and I had been sober - no drugs involved)
I am very excited for Maggie Rogers to come back next year with her new era. She’s an absolute legend in every single aspect and even had gotten picked by one of our podcast guests (Liv DeToma) as their legend.
Cheers to Rogers for a piece of art as album (& asking politely come onto our podcast please!)
What is your favourite memory with Surrender?
Here’s a podcast episode with an indie artist you will love when you’re a Maggie Rogers fan: