Maggie Rose Felt Like a ‘Rock Star’ the First Time She Heard Herself on the Radio

A lot has changed for Maggie Rose since the first time she ever heard one of her songs on the radio -- including her stage name. Back then, she was performing as Margaret Durante, and she heard her song on the radio while in a Michigan studio.

Though the singer admits that plenty of things are different these days -- including her perspective on what it means to have a track played on the radio -- Rose says it's still a humbling experience, if for different reasons. Read on to learn more, in her own words.

It was Traverse City, Mich., and I believe it was a song I had out called "Mississippi's Crying." I was in the studio, and that was the first time I was told that, "Alright, we're gonna spin [it.]"

["It was"] surreal. There were windows in the studios, so I could see people walking by on the sidewalk outside, not knowing if they were hearing what [the DJ] had put on the radio ... which was kinda surreal! Because, you know, maybe that person hears it. Maybe that person, in their car. It's a big megaphone, and for a minute, I felt like, "Wow, I've made it. I'm a rock star. In Traverse City, Mich.!"

The confidence in what I thought the power of one spin on radio was has definitely changed. The perspective has changed a bit. However, you know, I [recently performed on the 2019 Cayamo Cruise], and they just play an artist playlist on board. And I would kind of stop when I heard them play [my songs] "I'm Yours" or "Pull You Through" on this boat, knowing that everybody's hearing it, and I'd get butterflies.

It's just one cruise ship, but if you think about if someone in another country listened to my channel on Spotify, or whatever, that reach just kind of puts everything into frame. You're like, "This is a responsibility, putting things out there and making people feel things. You better do it right." There's more gratitude, and it's humbling -- like, "Whoa, I'm really small."