Music Review and interview with Natalie Rogers
Natalie Rogers is a singer-songwriter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since age nine, she has been singing and also plays piano. Though Natalie been trained in classical and jazz voice, her music draws from influences of pop, funk, and jazz. Within the last year, Natalie has begun to write and release her own music, including her songs “Be My Love,” and most recently, “Summer Vibes.”
Despite the fact that Natalie has begun to write her own music within the last few months, she is aiming to release her first album this summer.
“Summer Vibes”
The notion that Pittsburgh was a thriving music scene was never one to cross my mind… but when this track came down the pipe, I was very surprised… and impressed!
“Summer Vibes’ is extremely up beat yet Natalie’s vocals adds a melodic and gentle facet to this track. Upon listening to her music, the listener would not suspect a rather surprising fact: She just started writing a few months ago! Also, she has an extremely mature voice and overall she sounds like she’s been writing for years. After listening, her inexperience becomes an irrelevant issue except as a good press angle.
“Feel the heat / on the street … but it’s not as HOT as you and me”
I really love this track and it’s tuned perfectly for radio. I’d totally jam to this in my car or in the club! Just yesterday I was driving along the west side highway in NYC with my windows down with Summer Vibes blasting… yes yes…I’m one of those!
Overall, this is a well written track with all of the makings of a successful artist and I look forward to hearing the full album when it’s released this summer! Please check out our exclusive interview with Natalie below as well as her FM Broadcast via out FM Broadcast Partnership Program.
By HBdidit – Exposed Vocals Music Reviewer and Breaking News Contributor.
Listen to ‘Summer Vibes’ being played on Kiss 104.7 FM
A NYC fashion designer, music reviewer and lover of life!
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
Natalie: I heard about Exposed Vocals through Twitter! I think what Exposed Vocals has to offer for unsigned artists is great for musicians like myself who are just starting out. They offer great exposure and publicity. It’s always wonderful to have an additional source give you feedback and promote your music!
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Natalie: I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I am still based there as well. I’ve always loved music since I was little, but I started taking my music career more seriously in the last few years. I sang in choirs all through high school and started taking lessons when I was around sixteen. When I was younger I took piano and violin lessons, but I didn’t stick with them like I did with voice lessons. In college, I studied music and focused on vocal performance while continuing to sing in choirs. Ever since graduation, I’ve been writing my own material and trying to get my voice heard!
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Natalie: Sometimes I like to use the name ‘Rona Ingomar.’ ‘Natalie Rogers’ is just so generic, but Rona Ingomar stands out! Rona comes from ROgers, NAtalie, and Ingomar is an area in Pittsburgh. I’m torn between the two though, because as cool as ‘Rona Ingomar’ sounds, I want people to know me as me – Natalie Rogers!
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Natalie: I’m torn in regards to giving my music out for free or not. On the one hand, I think it’s great; I do give some of my music for free. Who doesn’t like free things? People love free music. On the other hand, I believe it is important to support unsigned, striving musicians. Music is an art and for a lot of people is a job, so I believe it’s important that people earn money from their music, especially if they’re trying to make a living out of it. I think it also shows that a musician is taking his or her work seriously.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Natalie: I’m still in the ‘start-up’ stage myself! But what I can say from experience already is to be yourself and market yourself. It’s definitely important for an artist to be original and unique. It transfers into your music as well and helps to give you an individual sound. It’s great and natural to have influences, but it’s necessary to have a unique sound in order to stand out from the other thousands of artists. And marketing yourself is also important when it comes to creating a fan base and getting your name out there. Do interviews as well, and be consistent with how often you stay in touch with your fans.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Natalie: I’m a perfectionist, so I am such a stickler when it comes to having everything run perfectly and knowing all of the lyrics and the music down to each individual note and beat. I freak out if I mess up. But of course I make mistakes! I try to roll with it and just keep singing. I make sure I practice the song enough so that I can be on autopilot, in a sense, so if I mess up, I can easily pick up where I left off. A lot of times, my voice cracks, and I sound like a boy going through puberty. I have allergies, and they often mess around with my voice, but I just keep singing like nothing happened.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Natalie: I haven’t toured as a solo artist yet. I would love to be able to. I think the closest I’ve come to touring as a solo artist is singing at numerous weddings and different churches for other types of services. Nothing really out of the ordinary happens with those haha, but it’s amazing to see all of the different beautiful churches, and it’s awesome to have the opportunity to sing in such a beautiful place. In college, I was part of the Heinz Chapel Choir at the University of Pittsburgh, and we once toured in Peru and then another time in the Balkans. Those tours were full of interesting, great food, a few (or many) cocktails, and beautiful cities and venues. Things can get crazy when you have 50 choir kids together, but those stories are for another time 😉
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Natalie: I like my songs to be about love, life, and having fun. I’m a lot better at coming up with lyrics than with the instrumentals, but it all starts with one little melody, and from there I can expand it into a whole song. Often times, my songs are created through reliving some past experiences. I draw a lot of my material from things that have happened to me with friends, guys that I’ve dated, and how stupid I was in high school and college.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Natalie: My website is natalierogersmusic.com . Check it out! The main source to listen to my music is my SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/ronaingomar . I immediately post my songs there when I want to get them out to everyone, and they are on my website too! I’m also on twitter: @natrogersmusic , and my Facebook fan page is facebook.com/ronaingomar
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Natalie: I have a song called “Booty Hole.” It is such a good song though. The beat is so smooth haha. You know how concert venues play other music after the shows are over? Well one time I was at a concert, and when the show ended I heard “Booty Hole” start playing. I heard the instrumentals before I heard the lyrics, and I was like “Wait this is really catchy and these chords are hot,” and THEN I heard the lyrics. But I didn’t care. I HAD TO HAVE THE SONG.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Natalie: First of all I would hire a financial advisor haha. Secondly, I would pay off the enormous amount of debt I have from college. YIKES. With the rest, I would put most of it towards my music career and give some back to my community. I decided that if I ever make a million dollars one day, I want to give some back to my alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, in order to improve its music school.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Natalie: Right now, I am working with just a microphone, a keyboard, and a really simple digital audio workstation. I don’t have any planned studio upgrades just yet, but hopefully, I can acquire a better DAW in the future!
Exposed Vocals: How do you promote?
Natalie: Currently, I’m using mostly social media as a tool to promote my music. I’m hoping to be able to perform my music at gigs soon, because I think performing is the most valuable way an artist can promote him or herself.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Natalie: Oh my gosh. Michael Jackson. He is my favorite entertainer ever. I grew up listening to his music and absolutely fell in love with it. Secondly, Rihanna. I think she would be so fun to perform with. She’s gorgeous, I love her voice, and I just think she would be awesome to be on stage with. I would love to perform at Madison Square Garden because it’s so renowned. I would also love to perform at Consol Energy Center, which is where top musicians perform in Pittsburgh currently.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Natalie: I’m hopefully going to put my first album out sometime this summer! I’m still working on a few songs, but hopefully I can get it done in the next month or so. I’m also collaborating on a lot of different projects with other artists and producers at the moment, so keep an eye out for all of that good stuff!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Natalie: I don’t think I can live without music, but if I absolutely had to do anything else, I think I would go into sports medicine, as drastically different from music as that sounds. In addition to being musically oriented, I’m really into science and math; I’m pretty nerdy and also tom-boyish. I played sports since I was four, so I think that would be a good fit for me if I didn’t love music so much.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Natalie: I’m pretty sure it was the Spice Girls’ ‘Spice’ album. I was only about six years old. I was obsessed with the Spice Girls, but what six year old girl wasn’t? I would constantly be playing that CD on my walkman. Oh, the 90’s! I think the Spice Girls are the first musicians that inspired me to want to become a singer. Granted, I was six years old, but ever since then, I’ve loved singing and wanted to be a singer.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Natalie: It’s not easy. I have a 9-5 job that is completely irrelevant to music. Working full time and also trying to make a career out of music is two jobs, and it’s very easy for me to get behind in my music projects. Whenever I’m not at my day job, I’m working on music.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?
Natalie: STAY TUNED FOR MY ALBUM UPDATES I may be doing some shows to promote another EP I’m working on. So hopefully an album and some touring! And pizza. Pizza is the answer to everything!
