The Magic of Maggie Rogers’ Orange

graphic by lucinda strol

Last Sunday, University Union gave us the glorious gift of Maggie Rogers. She came in the tidy package of an hour, pre-recorded concert, performing nine songs from her 2019 album, “Heard It In A Past Life.” The feeling of this concert perfectly matched the COVID lifestyle of dancing and screaming along to “Back In My Body” alone in our bedrooms while imagining ourselves in a mosh pit or at a huge party with everyone we love. Maggie performed to no audience, only to the camera and her band—it was basically the sickest quarantine dance party imaginable. 

Instead of trying to replicate the live concert experience and inevitably failing, the production team owned their limitations and created something that didn’t make you compare it to a live event, but was its own kind of thing. The way the show was filmed had almost a music video vibe due to the constant panning of the camera. The sweeping motions put you in the perspective of the crowd at a concert. It was such a hot concept, using the virtual nature of the concert as a positive tool instead of a disadvantage. It even created a cleaner and more comprehensive experience than what you would get at a live concert. 

Now let’s talk about Maggie. First of all, she is in a class of her own as a vocalist and criminally underrated. Her power! Her belt! Her seamless and effortless transitions between her chest, mix, and head voices! Her voice comes from a place so deep inside of her body that the listener feels it with that same depth. In some moments it almost seems to tear out of her, knocking her back with its power. Performing this way and succeeding requires so much more than a hardcore voice, though. You need stage presence, confidence, a fire fit, and sick dance moves. Maggie checked all of these boxes so fucking hard! Her presence combined with her voice distinguishes her as an ethereal rock star. 

In a moment of the ethereal rock star coming down to Earth to address her loving disciples, Maggie took a pause between “Overnight” and “Light On” to present her audience with a single orange. Looking into the camera, she said “Syracuse, before we play this song, this is for you” [she extended an orange to the camera], “Thank you for having us,” at which point she threw the orange over her head and narrowly caught it. Finally, she made a really silly sound to tie this whole extremely special moment together. Personally, we want to be buried with that orange. 

Mercury is finally out of retrograde and “Retrograde” is firmly nestled into our On Repeat playlist. We want to echo Maggie and send you all oranges of appreciation and the hope that “everyone is staying safe in these weird times.”