Ten years ago, a grainy classroom video turned Maggie Rogers into an overnight phenomenon. Now, she’s using that same origin story as a blueprint for what comes next.
To mark a decade since the viral moment that launched her career — when Pharrell Williams famously heard “Alaska” for the first time — Rogers is launching the Maggie Rogers Foundation, a new philanthropic platform aimed at expanding access to arts and music education.
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The mission is twofold: provide opportunities for students from all backgrounds to pursue creative work, and continue Rogers’ ongoing advocacy around women’s health and wellbeing. Its first major initiative is the Maggie Rogers Endowed Scholarship Fund at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, her alma mater. The fund will provide financial aid to students studying music production, a direct nod to the program where her own career began.
That origin story has become modern music lore. In March 2016, Pharrell accepted an invite from professor Bob Power to sit in on a senior seminar at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute. Rogers played a demo of “Alaska,” and his stunned reaction, captured on video, spread rapidly online in the days following her graduation. The clip effectively jumpstarted a career that has since produced three acclaimed albums.
To celebrate, Rogers returned last night (April 1) to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to honor the host as his tenure winds down with performances of “Alaska” and “One More for My Baby.” The latter standard closely associated with Frank Sinatra was famously revived by Bette Midler during Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show sendoff in May 1992.
Rogers also performed last weekend at a No Kings protest in Minneapolis alongside Bruce Springsteen, Senator Bernie Sanders, Joan Baez and Jane Fona.
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