By Sara Radin

Maggie Rogers was not prepared nor planning for fame. In fact, one could say it’s something that happened to her, all thanks to a viral video from 2016 of Pharrell Williams delightfully listening to her song “Alaska.” At that time, Rogers was a senior attending New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, but found herself struggling with a period of writer’s block. In January 2019, she explained to The New York Times, “All my teachers were really frustrated with me.” Having spent time working for music journalist Lizzy Goodman and interning at publications such as Elle and Spin, Rogers contemplated a career in music journalism as a last resort.

“I’ve never heard anyone like you before,” Pharrell, then an NYU artist-in-residence, tells Rogers in the video. “That’s a drug for me.” The song she played for the famed musician that fateful day had only been drafted in 15 minutes but it still received millions of views and immediately thrust the singer-songwriter into the spotlight. Now, three years later, the folkie pop singer has released her debut album Heard It In a Past Life and gone on multiple tours (including one with Mumford & Sons), bringing her candescent, warm spirit to cities across the U.S. and U.K.

Yet despite her many accolades, sold-out shows, and hit singles, Rogers seems to present herself in a way that’s distinct from most pop stars today: Until recently she styled herself for all of her public appearances, she likes to shares bits of her process on social media, and has been incredibly open about the challenge of navigating virality you didn’t ask for and the highs and lows of being a public figure. In this way, she embodies a refreshing sense of approachability, making her feel almost within reach — like that friend of a friend you see out at parties sometimes who is always really kind and has cool style.

These days, as Rogers rises further into the spotlight, she remains humble and authentic, showing her fans that it’s OK to not have all the answers while also reminding them of their humanity in everything that she does. A few days before her big Coachella performance and three years after “Alaska” first spread like wildfire, the rising singer tells MTV News why she loves glitter, her latest self-care purchase — a pillow — and the importance of processing.

MTV News: I really appreciate how honest you’ve been about being unprepared for the spotlight and not having control over your song and story going viral. How did you work your way back to being yourself after going through that experience?

Maggie Rogers: I don’t know if it was coming back to being myself. I feel like I’ve been myself the whole time. It’s just I think that every time you’re in a new situation you’re forced to work through new variables. The challenge for me was processing this intense amount of information and energy coming my way and then trying to really sit down and make decisions that felt like me. I had to take a second to validate everything I was feeling and give myself permission to feel all these things and then use that to fuel my art.

MTV News: Do you ever have any regrets over not being a music journalist?

Rogers: Not these days. When you’re super passionate about something you’re more willing to do all of the grunt work. You know, like, I’m so willing to live on a bus for my whole life because that means I get that one moment on stage or that one moment in the studio that totally fills me. I didn’t have that for journalism but it made me really appreciate what I had with music that much more. I still love writing, talking to other artists, and thinking about music and culture. That is very much a part of my life, my creative practice, and the way that I think about the world. [Journalism] is just not my primary passion. I feel really lucky and grateful that I get to make my primary passion my real life.

MTV News: How do you navigate long periods of writer’s block and do you have any tips for getting through it?

Rogers: I’ve always used music to tell me who I am in a singular moment and I’ve only had one long period of writer’s block in my life, which was when I was in college, when I moved from the super rural area in Maryland to New York City. Like most people in college, I just wasn’t really sure who I was. I was changing, and tried to take the time to notice that change. Now, whenever I’m having trouble with writing it usually has to do with my self-critic being too loud so I’ve made a lot of effort to try and separate the process of creating and editing because I think if you’re trying to edit as you’re making stuff, you’ll just end up getting in your own way.

MTV News: What kind of things do you do for your self-care when you’re on the road?

Rogers: Self-care is something I’m learning a lot about right now. I’ve been trying out different things on the road to feed my brain, my body and my soul. I spend a lot of time reading and try to make sure that I can get a little bit of alone time every day. I’ve always measured a good day as one where I can read, write, and run. Recently, I bought myself a pillow for the bus from Bed Bath & Beyond, and that’s been a game changer. I also invested in a Bluetooth speaker because I don’t know where my home really is right now, but wherever I am living, there’s always been a record player and I love having music around me.

MTV News: Do you have any weird or unexpected pre-concert or pre-tour rituals?

Rogers: Everybody wants to hear the weird stuff, but I just do normal things like a vocal warm up. I try and hydrate. I tell my band I love them. Oh, and then, I put some glitter on.

MTV News: You seem to really love glitter. Are you still styling yourself or public appearances and how do you decide what you want to wear for different performances?

Rogers: I just started working with a new stylist but she hasn’t styled me for anything publicly yet. Dressing for the stage is something I’m really still learning. I’ve been through periods of time where I’ve worn really elaborate, colorful costumes but a lot of that had to do with the fact that I was really scared and overwhelmed. Then I went to a place where I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but suddenly my daily clothes felt like a costume. So now I wear some kind of hybrid. It’s constantly evolving but I love being playful on stage. With glitter, it’s just so silly and there’s this sort of middle-school sleepover element that I like to incorporate into my stage life. It’s not everyday you get to be a pop star.

MTV News: In all of your music videos and the videos I’ve seen of you performing on stage it seems like you’re really letting go and that’s what your music inspires me to do for myself.

Rogers: Sometimes you just need to dance it out and physically move through things. It’s been special to see people at these shows really let go. Everyone knows what it’s like to feel sad and everybody is going through their own shit. And sometimes it’s just nice to be with a group of people together in a room and feel things at the same time.

MTV News: So how does it feel to be selling out venues you never dreamed you’d play at?

Rogers: It is very surreal. I’m very much still processing all of that. Everything is moving quickly but I’m so excited and grateful.

MTV News: What do you like most about being on tour?

Rogers: Touring is really hard. I mean, I live in a bus with 12 people and we have no real sleep schedule. But being able to see that moment at the end of the night where people are really radiating and moving through some things makes me feels like I’m doing some kind of energy work in the world and that is pretty fulfilling.

Not everyone feels the warm and fuzzies for cold-blooded creatures.

A YouTube video posted by Ashley Robine shows what happens when an unstoppable force (a lizard, chilling) meets an immovable object (someone with a fear of lizards). 

“My brother came to visit, when he was not paying attention we put our bearded dragon Rico on him,” the description says. “This was his reaction.”

The man immediately starts yelling “Pick him up! Pick him up! Pick him up!” repeatedly in a panic. “You are FIRED!” he says to the small child who did not pick up the lizard. 

Poor Rico. He just wanted to give him a hug. 

As it does with almost everything, Game of Thrones is bringing fan art to the next level with Create For The Throne, giving fan artists around the world the chance to reimagine Game of Thrones props. 

The full collection of art will soon debut on Game of Thrones‘ social channels as well as partially at a Game of Thrones premiere party in New York.

SEE ALSO: ‘Saturday Night Live’ teases every ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel, sequel, and spin-off

HBO worked with advertising agency 360i on CFTT, part of the larger #ForTheThrone marketing campaign for Season 8. They enlisted artists from around the world to jumpstart this project, including the U.S., U.K., Japan, and more. 

The 18 artists work across media and began by transforming a single Thrones prop into a work of visual art. Inspired fans are encouraged to share their own work on social media (with an opportunity to be featured alongside the collection as well).

View all the transformed props below.

Game of Thrones returns April 14.

If you’ve ever tried to choose between supporting similar campaigns for the same worthy cause on GoFundMe, you know it can be challenging to pick just one. 

That’s why the crowdfunding site launched GoFundMe.org Causes on Thursday. The initiative allows donors to support several campaigns related to one of six causes: animal rescue, mental health, environment, kindergarten through high school classrooms, veterans, and kid heroes. 

The company knows its donors are passionate about these issues, said Raquel Rozas, chief marketing officer of GoFundMe. New topics will be added in the future. 

A single donation to one cause will be distributed to multiple individuals and nonprofit organizations vetted in part by the new GoFundMe.org, an independent public charity working with GoFundMe. 

SEE ALSO: Everything to consider before donating to a cause

The goal is to reach people who perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise learned about the campaigns as well as to engage high-profile influencers who prefer to back a broad cause instead of a single fundraiser. 

“Our hope is to bring new donors and new communities to these existing campaigns,” said Rozas. 

The initiative is an evolution of fundraising GoFundMe was already doing with the Direct Impact Fund, a nonprofit organization that helped fund time-sensitive campaigns for multiple groups working on issues like disaster relief and political crises. That has included support for California wildfire survivors and those affected by the Trump administration’s family separation policy. GoFundMe.org Causes will still include campaigns for urgent campaigns, Rozas said.  

GoFundMe.org Causes launched by marking National Pet Day with a call from Matt Nelson, who runs the popular WeRateDogs Twitter account, to support the platform’s animal rescue cause. 

For the past five years, Jess Kurti has been trying to finish what she dubbed the “Beast of Burden Challenge.” 

That moment finally arrives Thursday, when Kurti volunteers at the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank in Virginia. The day of service, which includes distributing food boxes to elderly recipients and people with disabilities, ends her quest to volunteer at all 200 of the food banks in the Feeding America network. The domestic hunger-relief organization says that, to its knowledge, Kurti is the first person to ever accomplish this feat. 

Kurti, 47, had volunteered at her local food bank before setting out on what amounted to a years long road trip to volunteer at hundreds of them. After a period of “soul searching” that followed losing her job as a meter reader in Fort Myers, Florida, in 2012, Kurti wanted a drastic change. She recalled how good it felt to know her efforts at a food bank directly helped someone in need. 

“I really wanted a purpose-driven life and a service-driven life,” she says. 

“I really wanted a purpose-driven life and a service-driven life.” 

So, in 2014, Kurti launched the Beast of Burden Challenge, a name she chose to reflect how the root causes of hunger — and its effects — burden everyone. 

Since then, she’s loaded delivery vehicles, picked vegetables from urban gardens, assembled donation boxes for Hurricane Sandy survivors, prepared after-school meals for kids, rescued unused food from trade shows, and even packed food as part of the band Metallica’s first-ever national day of service. She’s also run 100 marathons to highlight the connections between nutrition, physical activity, and health. While on the road, Kurti has often lived out of her car. 

Kurti describes the conclusion of her unpredictable journey as “bittersweet.”

“I won’t ever step away from it,” she says of volunteering for food banks and trying to draw attention to the crisis of hunger in the U.S. “I definitely think this is going to be a lifelong thing for me.”

SEE ALSO: What 6 survivors of homelessness want you to know

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, praised Kurti in a statement Thursday. 

“We are inspired by Jess and her amazing journey across the country to volunteer at every Feeding America food bank,” Babineaux-Fontenot said. “Through her travels, she has seen firsthand what hunger in America looks like and the incredible impact that volunteers can make.”

Kurti says she started the challenge with numerous misconceptions about who goes hungry in America. Having never personally endured hunger, she imagined those affected by it experienced chronic mental health issues or homelessness. Even when working as a meter reader in depressed neighborhoods, Kurti assumed residents were eating. 

That naiveté quickly gave way to the realization that 40 million people — or 1 in 8 Americans — are food insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to enough to food to lead an active, healthy life.  Setbacks like losing a job, having a car break down, or getting hit with a major medical expense can plunge families into food insecurity. They often then must decide between paying rent or buying groceries. They can find themselves rationing food for weeks.

“I honestly didn’t realize that people had to make these horrific choices,” says Kurti. 

Kurti knows that the scale of hunger in America can feel overwhelming, which is why she emphasizes the tangible contribution volunteers can make at a local food bank. And that’s often what she talks about when local news crews and reporters interview her about the challenge; Kurti hopes the attention will inspire potential volunteers to take action. 

An estimated two million volunteers give their time to food banks and their partner agencies each month, according to data collected by Feeding America in 2013. Zuani Villarreal, director of communication for Feeding America, says their contributions are invaluable: “Volunteers are critical to the operation of a food bank.” 

Some might see that work as simply sorting through canned goods, but Villareal says food banks have evolved over the past 10 years to focus on innovation and problem-solving. While the classic food drive is still integral to their efforts, now many food banks tackle the logistics of rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste. 

That can mean working with farmers to harvest and package produce that won’t end up supermarkets, coordinating with restaurants, hotels, and caterers to take prepared food that hasn’t been served, and helping recipients learn how to use unfamiliar products. When one food bank received a large donation of canned salmon, the staff developed a recipe and held a cooking demo for recipients, instead of just handing out the product with the hope that it would be eaten. 

“Problem-solving is a key to food banking,” says Villareal. 

Kurti seems game for any task. Last year, she received certification to operate a forklift, a useful skill in large warehouses filled with food items that need to be sorted and distributed. 

Completing the challenge has required more than a few sacrifices from Kurti, who’s drawn on savings to fund her efforts. She raised several thousand dollars over the past five years, which she donated to Feeding America. She has no consistent income and receives no financial support from Feeding America or corporate sponsors. 

When Kurti tires of the road, she crashes with a friend in Orlando who charges her minimal rent to maintain a bedroom in their apartment. Otherwise, she typically sleeps in her car, a 2014 gold Toyota Sienna, which replaced a Subaru Forrester that gave out last year after logging 269,000 miles. The van’s back seats remain folded down, so she can use the back as a bed. A small storage area holds her belongings, including food. 

She can’t cook or refrigerate ingredients and meals, creating a peculiar dietary challenge for someone who travels the country talking about hunger and nutrition. Kurti, who is vegan, focuses on supplementing healthy pre-packaged foods with fresh fruits and vegetables. Her daily breakfast is a bowl of oats soaked overnight in water, hemp seeds, raisins, and super food powder, topped with nut butter and fruit in the morning. 

Kurti says the experience has helped her understand what life is like for people who have no choice but to live in their car.  

“It’s a privilege for me to buy food and be an advocate and steward of good health,” she says.  

Kurti says people interested in reducing hunger in their communities obviously need not travel the country for five years to raise awareness about the issue. Volunteering time, or donating food or money, are simple yet effective ways to help. 

Before Kurti embarked on her challenge, she had to deal with the frustration she felt over the fact that so many Americans go hungry. 

“It really forced me to think beyond indignation. I was angry,” Kurti says. “It really takes time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and say, ‘Why, and what can I do about it?’”

Kurti now knows more than ever how to answer those difficult questions. 

Someone invented a condom to promote consent in relationships. Problem is, the people behind the product seem to have a very limited understanding of consent and sexual assault. 

And the problems don’t end there. Women have been voicing their concerns on Twitter about the condom’s gamification of consent through the product’s resemblance to a Rubick’s Cube. Some have also raised concerns that the product appears designed to “protect men from rape accusations” rather than protecting women from sexual violence. 

SEE ALSO: Consent-oriented condom packaging says four hands are needed to open it, but then again – maybe not

ICYMI, the “consent condom” in the invention of Tulipán, an Argentinian condom brand, designed to promote consent in sexual relationships. The product works by allegedly requiring four hands in order to open the package — a concept that does not take into account people with certain disabilities. Mashable tested out the concept and found a way to open the packaging with just two hands. 

Holly Baxter, an editor at the Independent, wrote on Twitter that the condom taps into the already problematic nature of our culture’s conversations about consent. “We see this a lot when we talk about consent — products and strategies devised (usually by men) which address the problem of ‘women saying they get raped’ rather than ‘women experiencing sexual assault,’” she wrote.

Guardian US opinion columnist Moira Donegan likened the product’s concept to solving “a 3D puzzle to get the condom out the wrapper.” 

Donegan also raised the point that someone who’s perpetrating sexual assault, and who “doesn’t care about consent”, may not care about condoms either. 

One rather large flaw in the product is the complete lack of understanding of how consent actually works. 

The use of a puzzle-like device to supposedly ensure consent doesn’t factor into the fact that consent is something that’s supposed to be “constantly negotiated”, and not just a one-time negotiation that can only ever occur at the start of intercourse. As Jo Grady pointed out, it’d be a better use of resources and time to teach people that consent is not “just about opening a condom wrapper together.” 

As Lily Madigan explains in a Medium piece about enthusiastic consent, “consent isn’t constant.” “It can easily change and can initially be given hesitantly,” writes Madigan. “Therefore, it’s so important to check with a sexual partner that they are comfortable with what is going on during a sexual encounter.”

Julia Pugachevsky, sex + relationships and astrology editor at Cosmopolitan, added that the condom was dumbing down the idea of “healthy communication re: sex in a harmful way.”  Pugachevsky rightly points out that putting on a condom does not constitute consent to “all sexual activity”. 

The product has been likened to the recent consent videos and consent contract app that have emerged in the post-#MeToo backlash, which appears to be centred upon fears over men being falsely accused of sexual violence. Research actually suggests that men are more likely to be raped than falsely accused of rape, per Channel 4 fact-checking. 

Maybe read up on consent before designing a product about it?