Maggie Rogers Headlines Ascend Amphitheater with Nashville’s Own Soccer Mommy Tonight, July 25

By the time her major label debut, Heard It in a Past Life, arrived at the start of 2019, Maryland born and now LA-based pop singer Maggie Rogers had already been met with a whirlwind of buzz, thanks to two early self-released folk albums, a 2016 viral video of Pharrell Williams hearing her music for the first time while a student at NYU, and a string of hugely popular and impressive singles in the lead-up, like “Alaska” (the song that wowed Williams) and “Light On.” Huge tours, a Grammy nomination, festival and television appearances, and viral streaming success would follow, as well as universal critical accolades, as Rogers, across her two major label releases, pivoted to a more electro-infused indie pop, while retaining the ethos of her folkier roots.

The latter, Surrender, arrived last year, honing and broadening the tone set with Past Life, and once again adopting an eclectic array of influences wrapped up in nuanced, earnest, and immensely creative songwriting and powerhouse vocals. Even more impressively, the whole record doubled as a component of Rogers’ grad school thesis, as she graduated from Harvard Divinity School last year with a master’s degree in religion and public life, demonstrating a thoughtfulness and depth in how she approaches her craft and the place of art in a higher, humanistic context. In short: Maggie Rogers is in a class of her own when it comes not only to talent, but also with her approach and contextual understanding of her craft and its broader meaning in the culture.

No stranger to Nashville over the years, Maggie has played everywhere from The High Watt to The Basement East to Marathon Music Works to, most recently, The Ryman in 2019, but tonight, July 25, she’s set for her biggest Music City headliner to date, and first post-pandemic, at Ascend Amphitheater! That alone warrants your attention as what’s sure to be one of the year’s best pop shows, but making it all the more essential is the fact that Nashville indie rocker and longtime site favorite Soccer Mommy, still riding high on the buzz for last year’s phenomenal third album Sometimes, Forever, is set to open. A handful of tickets are still available right here; don’t miss out!