By Vanessa B
A “full-bodied” early endeavor from Pittsburgh, PA newcomer Natalie Rogers, sharing her catchy and dance-worthy Disco/Funk Pop bop “Full Body” today.
The quirky tune is a first for vocalist, bassist, pianist, and drummer Natalie in self-producing and is perfect to get in the mood for weekend grooving.
Check out the single and our QuickFire Questions with Natalie below.
Where did you get the inspiration for Full Body and what was the creative process like?
Full Body was pretty much a practice track for me when it came to learning how to produce my own songs. Quarantine was the perfect time for me to get back into writing my own music, so I started writing this song in the spring of 2020. I grew up listening to Disco/Funk Pop heavily influenced by my mother, and it’s always been one of my favorite genres, so that was the direction I wanted to take with this song; I wanted to write something fun, quirky, and upbeat. With the world shutting down due to COVID, it gave me the perfect opportunity to learn how to produce my own songs with the skills I had gained as a musician the last few years prior. My husband’s facial hair was the inspiration for the song’s subject matter.
Which artists are you listening to right now?
I’m really into alternative R&B right now with a focus on female singers. I’ve been listening to a lot of Kehlani, H.E.R., Doja Cat, Snoh Aalegra. I have a 20-hour Spotify playlist called ‘Tasty R&B,’ and it’s pretty much all I listen to.
What has your musical journey been like so far?
My musical journey has kind of been all over the place, but I think sometimes that’s a way of life for a musician; I think dabbling in numerous projects at once is pretty normal for someone who is trying to dedicate their career to music. I was classically trained in voice in college, yet I love singing pop music, and I play piano, drums, and bass. This has allowed me to get involved in all sorts of different music endeavors. I’ve sung in choirs since elementary school, I’ve sung at weddings since I was a teenager, I performed at a piano bar for a few years, and now I’m in about four bands and sing for a local church choir too. And I’m trying to get back into writing my own music on top of all of that.
Where have you performed? What are your favourite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
I’ve played at a lot of different venues around Pittsburgh, but I think one of the coolest experiences I’ve had was performing at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. I only got to perform two songs, as it was an Open Mic event, but it was really cool to meet other singers and songwriters and to say you’ve played at the Bluebird. I also recently performed at the SXSW festival with a local Pittsburgh band, and that was a really great experience. I currently don’t have any upcoming shows dedicated to my original music, but you can definitely catch me performing somewhere in Pittsburgh on pretty much any given weekend.
What are your plans for the rest of this year?
I’m really hoping continue writing and releasing my own songs. I have a bunch cooking up right now, so I plan to finish them and continue releasing more music. Once I have enough releases, I would love to perform them around Pittsburgh or wherever life takes me.
