Maggie Rogers, a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and Clive Davis alum, will address students at the Tisch School of the Arts’ graduation ceremony next week as this year’s honorary speaker.
“See you at graduation,” Rogers said in an Instagram post, which showed a 2016 photo of Rogers in NYU graduation attire.
Rogers will speak to the class of 2025 at Radio City Music Hall next Friday, following “words of wisdom” from lame duck Tisch dean Allyson Greene, department chairs and a member of the graduating class. The singer-songwriter graduated from the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2016, and later Harvard Divinity School in 2022.
The announcement was posted to the official Tisch Instagram account on Monday afternoon. It comes six days after NYU announced that Tisch alum and “Saturday Night Live” star Molly Shannon will speak at the university’s commencement ceremony in Yankee Stadium. In the last week, the university has also announced keynote speakers for other schools, including TIAA Insurance CEO Thasunda Duckett at the Stern School of Business and exercise instructor Robin Arzón at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
A Maryland native, Rogers first garnered an audience when a video of her presenting her song “Alaska” to then artist-in-residence Pharrell Williams — who deemed the piece “singular” — found virality online. After graduating, Rogers continued to capture the attention of indie music enthusiasts through her debut EP, “Now That The Light Is Fading,” and her subsequent 2019 debut album, “Heard It in a Past Life.” She received a Grammy nomination for best new artist in 2020.
Rogers’ third and most recent studio album, “Don’t Forget Me,” was released in April 2024 and received recognition in Rolling Stone as one of the “100 Best Albums of 2024.” She has since lent her voice and writing to a number of singles in collaboration with artists such as Sylvan Esso on “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” and Zach Bryan on “Dawns ft. Maggie Rogers.” The latter received platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America — the third of her projects, after “Alaska” and 2019 single “Light On,” to receive this achievement.
Contact Eleanor Jacobs at [email protected].
