‘I’ve always had this blind faith’: Morgan Nagler on writing with alt-rock’s biggest names – and making her solo debut at 47

2026-03-11 - 15:03

After starting out as a child actor, the US artist found music. Now co-writing with Phoebe Bridgers, Haim and Kim Deal, her dogged, DIY career has been powered by conviction The title of Morgan Nagler’s solo debut, I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It, speaks to the sort of wisdom you can only accrue after several decades in the game, the kind that compels you to put your name to an album for the first time at the age of 47. But Nagler’s MO was there from day one, as an 11-year-old child actor going for a bit part as a popular girl on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. “I showed up and there were 200 girls there,” says Nagler. “I remember thinking, I’m never gonna get this. So I decided to read the lines as a super-nerd.” The producers rewrote the part and hired her to kiss Carlton. Today, Nagler lives in the same neighbourhood as Will Smith himself – not Bel-Air but a semi-rustic enclave of Malibu, California, albeit in the guesthouse of her friends’ place rather than a celeb mansion. She started acting around age five, after her family moved from rural Oregon to California. She did it for two decades, taking parts in shows including Frasier, Star Trek and Clueless. But, at 26, Nagler jacked it all in to pursue music after realising how fulfilled she was playing guitar in her trailer between takes. Some people told her she was making a mistake, but she knew otherwise. Music, says Nagler, “is the only thing that makes me feel connected in any meaningful way. For me, that’s way more important than comfort or stability. I’ve always had this blind faith.” Continue reading...