quickly rose to fame in 2016, she knew she had a lot to learn about being a public figure. But what Rogers didn’t expect was that fans would seek her guidance on the most intimate aspects of their lives.
“I was constantly put in this sort of nontraditional ministerial position, where I was being asked for moral and spiritual guidance even though that wasn’t the job I signed up to do,” Rogers said in aThat’s why, last fall, the folk-pop icon headed to Harvard Divinity School to complete a master’s degree in religion and public life, where she reflected on the responsibility that public figures have for their audience, how to keep art sacred, and the role that music plays in creating community.
The album, as its title suggests, is about surrendering oneself: to emotions, love, community. It’s about finding happiness in tumultuous times and seeing joy as a form of rebellion. “We must transform ourselves to transform the world,” Rogers tellsRogers isn’t concerned with finding solutions through her album to the political crises we face: “That’s not a responsibility artists have,” she says. Instead, Rogers wants to help people find release.
Also, I think it's worth saying that there's just so many different ways to learn. I was really craving community and structure. But I think that there is learning to be done all the time. That kind of learning can happen alone with a great book or with a friend, in the same way that it can happen in grad school.is about giving into feeling. That word can have such negative connotations, but to me it is such a positive thing.
I wrote the album in a time when I was feeling incredibly numb. I would have these huge waves of emotion, whether they were anger or joy. And to me, those are two emotions that sort of take over. It's terrifying to let go in that way, but it can be one of the fullest [experiences] of just living, in general. So letting go is really whatI also really made [the album] to be shared and played live.