Maggie Rogers has shared “That’s Where I Am,” her first single from her second album Surrender, in which she details a New York love story.
The track is the singer-songwriter’s first piece of new material since she released the standalone single “Love You For A Long Time” in 2019.
“I told you I loved you when we were just friends,” Rogers sings on the new single. “You kept me waiting and I hated you then / Gave it a few years, you settled your debts / But I never got over the secrets I kept.”
“‘That’s Where I Am’ is a story I’d been carrying around for many years, the story of a love that had been with me and unfolding for a long time,” she explained in a press release. “A lot of the events that Surrender chronicles take place in New York City. In the stark solitude and distance of covid, it was the backdrop for all my claustrophobic fantasies. The proximity and pleasure of just staring at strangers. The way a night could unfold. Events that interrupt your day instead of having to consciously and deliberately make each decision. I longed for someone to sweat on me. Spill their beer on my shoes. Be too tall for me to see at the concert.
“The city’s music and attitude was a big source of inspiration for the record. For all these reasons, there was only ever one place we could shoot the video. I’ve always said that New York is the city that winks back. It’s a main character. It’s a friend, a lover, an enemy sometimes. In many ways, the music video is about that New York love story. And on those filming days, it felt like the city was on our side. We got our first taste of true New York spring. That feral downtown explosion when suddenly everyone’s smoking on the sidewalks in short sleeves and drinking gin and tonics. The appearance of a few classic New York characters – David Byrne, The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser, and photographer Quil Lemons – made the daydream feel complete.”
Surrender will arrive on June 29 via Capitol Records. Announcing it last week, its creator shared a trailer for the album, which featured her delivering a poetic account of the internal journey that led her to Surrender.
“When I’m angry or in love, I feel it in my teeth,” Rogers narrates, “Strange harmonic buzzing. Cuts through my hands. My jaw. My breast bone. For a long time, I fought it. Resisted. Held up my fists. Tried to hold the current. Foolish. I found peace in distortion. A chaos I could control. Turned the drums up real loud hoping they could shock me back in. Break the numbness. Let the bright lights drag me out.
“Do you fear what’s underneath?” she continues, “Here’s all I have. It’s yours to take. Love. Hate. Anger. Feral joy. This is the story of what happened when I finally gave in.”
Later this month, Rogers will perform at both weekends of Coachella, while in July she will appear at the UK’s Latitude Festival.
