Maggie Rogers feels the joy of bringing people together as she headlines Sommo Festival

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During the depths of the pandemic, Maggie Rogers was writing her second studio album, Surrender, with her mouth watering, thinking about playing festivals. This summer, the American singer-songwriter will be living out that fantasy on Prince Edward Island, at Sommo Festival in Cavendish.

The fest, where Rogers shares headlining spots with Mumford and Sons, Vance Joy, and Tegan and Sara, includes a culinary and beverage experience with top chefs and bartenders.

The Globe spoke with Rogers in May about the fest, her creative process and her favourite ways to eat PEI’s pride produce: the potato.

You’re playing a festival that will be full of fans who came to see multiple acts. Does playing for a wider audience change how you approach your show versus when you’re playing for your own dedicated fans?

Sometimes. It’s a little bit less pressure because you’re not holding the entire stage by yourself. And this festival in particular has such an amazing lineup; I’m such a big fan of so many of the bands. But playing a festival versus playing a show – when you’re playing a show, all the attention and all the focus is really on you, and I feel a lot of care and responsibility to make sure everybody has an amazing time. And I feel that way so much at a festival, but there is such an immense amount of community and camaraderie. People come for the music, but really come for an experience of what it’s like to sort of be together.

I want to know a bit more about the in-person ticket sales day you did for your Summer of ‘23 tour. Why did you do it, and how did it feel to see it unfold?

I’ve spoken before about the way that ticketing and fees and that relationship feels like it’s gotten a bit extreme in a post-pandemic world, and it just doesn’t feel fair to me. But at the same time a lot of that is kind of out of my control because it has to do with venues, direct relationships with ticketing platforms. I wanted to be able to give people another option outside of the online ticketing experience.

I was shocked by how many showed up, but was so touched and moved by getting to meet and talk to people, and seeing their relationship to each other. Getting to see people come sit in line and meet each other and then choose to sit next to each other at the show and make friends – that was so sweet. It felt unbelievably special and I can’t wait to see those people at the shows. You know they’re going to be the ones closest to the stage, and it feels really good when you step on stage and are maybe feeling a little bit vulnerable and then get to see some people in the front that you know have your back.

In Canada, we’re so excited to feel the magic and life of summer – your last album, Surrender, felt like a celebration of life in that way. Why is the feeling of being alive and connected important to you now?

Surrender is a record about feeling all there is to feel and having that be a really positive and rebellious statement of joy. I wrote this record thinking about playing live. It was in the depths of the pandemic, living in Maine, and my mouth watering, thinking about being at a music festival and someone spilling beer on my shoes – it was all that I wanted.

The Surrender tour has been so fun and so visceral, getting to be back with people – it’s been my first time on the road in three or four years. This summer does feel different. I’m feeling all of that joy and excitement of being together.

This Summer of ’23 tour, between the images and the way we’re treating the stage and the band, it’s more playful. I definitely feel the light coming in and it doesn’t feel like it’s about an album specifically, it just feels like it’s about getting the chance to be together with a group of people in a couple of really beautiful places.

Going on tour, I’m assuming you’ll be back in places you’ve been to before. Is there a moment that you’ve had revisiting somewhere where you have a sense that you’re a different version of yourself than when you last visited?

Everything about the world is different. The prepandemic world feels so far away that coming back to shows has felt really emotional and really raw, and it feels like there’s a pretty high voltage of emotional energy. Everything feels like it’s starting over again. Things feel fresh.

You just turned 29. Is there something about being 29 that feels different? How are you relating to the number 29 in relation to what’s going on in your life?

I feel good. I feel calm and settled and I’m definitely looking forward to my thirties and thinking about what will come in the next five years. In my twenties, I had some sort of version of expectation or like hopes and dreams and I knew what I wanted, but things feel pretty wide open right now. So much of this is so far beyond my wildest hopes and dreams for what playing music could be in my life. And I feel like I’m having this moment where I’m maybe not as shocked by it any more. And instead, I’m just really, really enjoying it and getting to just really sink into the daily practice of getting to create art and what that means as a life practice. Not just as something I did when I was trying to sort through my feelings during puberty in high school.

I’m surveying my life and I’m all like, scrambled eggs brain about it in the same way that everybody else is. But I think it’s in those moments that I feel stoked that I have a place to put all of that feeling.

Are you an “always carry a notebook, write down things when you’re struck with inspiration” person or are you a “daily writing practice with discipline” person?

I feel like there’s a lot of stress put on discipline, and I thought that I had to be good or bad at something. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I trust my intuition, and I trust my creative flow, and I don’t put as much pressure on myself any more because I just trust that it’s a part of who I am.

I view all of these different creative practices – whether it’s journaling or playing piano or going for a walk or whatever – as tools that are in my bag and that I know how to reach for at different times to feed my creative brain or just to balance myself out.

I think that that’s a bit of that 29-year-old maturity sort of coming into focus.

You work hard for something and then when you achieve a version of it, I think that at this point I’m trying to figure out what it means to me and what I want my life to be about and how I want to find my way through it as I’m growing and adapt to find balance in a job that also asks that I’m away from home and pretty highly exposed to adrenalin a lot of the time.

How to balance that with making work that feels thoughtful and timeless. I think that that’s a life’s work.

One last question: PEI is famous for its potatoes. What’s your favourite way to eat them?

My favourite is a roasted Japanese sweet potato with sauce like chimichurri, or, like, dumb perfect French fries with mayo. High art, low art.

Rogers will be performing at Sommo Festival on Friday, July 14 and at Budweiser Stage in Toronto on August 3.

This interview has been edited and condensed.