Surrender [Limited Tangerine]
The “Alaska” star’s second album, which shares its title with her Harvard Divinity School thesis, asks big questions about life through confident pop anthems.
If it sounds a little Ivy League Hannah Montana—finals by day, Met Gala by night—Rogers’ return to academia served her well. On Surrender, she sounds renewed, submitting to the pull of her heart without apology. She plays hooky from adulthood on the upbeat “Be Cool” and gives into her carnal instincts on “Want Want”; she’s turning off the radio and listening to the wind instead of suffering through “that song I’m supposed to know/By some fucking bro,” as she teases on “Anywhere With You.” She’s still processing her whirlwind rise to fame, and learning what to prioritize: “Took me all this long to figure out/It’s not worth it/If I can’t touch the ground,” she sings on the ballad “Horses,” which uses the titular animals as a symbol for the freedom she so badly desires.