B-Side Guys

Self-erasure disguised as accommodation. Malia Rogers’ “Chameleon” operates from this devastating premise, using the EP’s title track to explore how people-pleasing transforms from survival strategy into identity dissolution. Her contemplative alt-folk approach provides perfect vehicle for examining the specific horror of realizing you’ve disappeared into other people’s expectations.

Rogers’ maritime background informs the song’s emotional geography without overwhelming it. Those Celtic undertones surface subtly, adding textural depth that supports rather than defines the track’s essential intimacy. Producer Neil Whitford’s work creates sonic environment that feels both expansive and claustrophobic—appropriate for documenting the internal experience of losing yourself gradually.

The 1:14 build proves essential to the song’s emotional architecture. Everything before that moment feels like careful confession; everything after feels like inevitable breakdown. Rogers’ “warmed-honey vocals” carry the weight of someone who’s tired of their own adaptability, delivering lines about painting herself to match others with exhausted resignation rather than dramatic flair.

What makes this particularly effective is Rogers’ understanding of people-pleasing as gradual process rather than conscious choice. Her lyrical approach documents the slow erosion of self-knowledge through repeated accommodation. The questioning structure—”What would happen if I broke the frame?”—reveals someone who’s forgotten what their own preferences might be, who needs permission even to imagine authenticity.

Her multi-instrumental abilities and experience supporting other artists’ projects provides interesting context for these themes. Rogers has spent considerable time literally adapting to others’ musical visions, making her exploration of personal identity loss feel grounded in lived experience rather than abstract concept.

The Paramore comparison feels particularly apt—both artists understand how to make vulnerability feel empowering rather than victimizing. Rogers has created something that works as both personal reckoning and universal recognition. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is admit you don’t know who you are anymore, then start the slow work of figuring it out from scratch.