Heard It In A Past Life
Maggie Rogers spent the first three years of her career retracing one chance encounter: In 2016, a video of her singing a song that moved Pharrell to tears during a master class at NYU went viral, earning her a record deal, magazine features, and headlining tours (watch it and you’ll understand). But the Maryland native, then 22, was still figuring out who she was, and this sudden flood of fame was a lot to bear. Determined to take control of her own narrative, she assembled a debut album powerful enough to shift the conversation. Measured, subtle, and wise beyond her years, it feels like the introduction she always wanted to make. Like her 2017 EP, *Now That the Light Is Fading*, *Heard It In A Past Life* is a thoughtfully sewn patchwork of anthemic synth-pop, brooding acoustic folk, and soft-lit electronica, the latter of which was inspired by a year spent dancing through Berlin’s nightclub scene. But here, her vision feels both more daring and more polished. On “Retrograde,” long stretches of propulsive synths are punctuated by high-pitched *hah-hah-hah*s; “Say It” blends R&B with light, breathy indie-pop; and “The Knife” could be a sultry come-on or a daring confession. On the Greg Kurstin-produced “Light On,” Rogers seems to make peace with her surreal story. “And I am findin’ out/There’s just no other way/And I’m still dancin’ at the end of the day,” she sings, a bittersweet hat-tip to the moment that got her here. And to her fans, a promise: “If you leave the light on/Then I’ll leave the light on.”
Three years after an encounter with Pharrell turned her into a viral phenomenon, the accidental star finally delivers her debut album, but her talents are eclipsed by overproduction.
Maggie Rogers' debut album of empowering, honest, folktronica-hued songs is the work of an idiosyncratic talent
The singer-songwriter's major-label debut is full of tuneful goodness and relatable detail
After she was discovered in a viral YouTube video, Rogers took her time with her debut album – but it never quite reaches the mountainous heights of her breakout song
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While Maggie Rogers' major label debut lacks some vital elements, it acts as a stepping stone from a talent who is just about to surge ahead.
There's a brief moment in the middle of Maggie Rogers' full-length debut where she brings things to a screeching halt. Up until piano ballad...
In a world in which cynicism appears to be everyone’s default setting, it would be easy to write off Maggie Rogers as an industry plant - an artist
Maggie Rogers doesn't know who she is on her debut full-length release, Heard It in a Past Life.
'Heard It in a Past Life' by Maggie Rogers, album review by Dave Macentyre. The album arrives on January 18th via Debay/Capitol Records
The viral hit with which Rogers lit up the internet, Alaska, sucks the energy out of the other songs on a disappointing debut album