Maggie Rogers becomes herself again with the phenomenal "Heard It In A Past Life"

The highly anticipated major label debut from alternative pop artist Maggie Rogers is finally here.

Now, for those who follow me rather closely, you should definitely know Rogers by now. I've been following her for almost 3 years. Near the end of 2016 was when I discovered her debut hit "Alaska." All on my own—I might add. It was one of those YouTube recommendations that you aren't sure about clicking at first, and then you finally give in and it turns out to be the greatest thing ever. I can't remember exactly which song led me to her before that, but I am thankful for it.

The reason I need to specify my personal discovery of the song "Alaska" is because of the reason that most fans first got in touch with Rogers. It's a hugely important part of her story, but I feel like it's been told so many times before, so I'll just give you an overview. Rogers was a student at NYU a few years back and music superstar Pharrell Williams came to visit for a master class where a few students were able to show him a song they were working on. Rogers showed him "Alaska" and Williams was blown away. He was practically speechless, only giving Rogers wonderful compliments. There was a video of this interaction that eventually went viral and drew major attention to both Rogers and the song "Alaska," in particular.

Shortly after that, Rogers continued on her major-label music journey with her follow-up single—a personal favorite of mine, "Dog Years." (Rogers had previously released two independent records, The Echo in 2012, and Blood Ballet in 2014.)

"Alaska" and "Dog Years" appeared on her 2017 EP Now That The Light Is Fading which was released to critical acclaim along with another popular single "On + Off." Later that year, she collaborated with The North Face to promote her standalone single "Split Stones."

Now, we fast-forward to 2019.

With that backstory out of the way, we can talk about what really matters. The Maggie Rogers of today. The NYU graduate, the girl who got to live out her dream of performing on SNL, and the girl who was able to become more than a video.

Heard It In A Past Life is a triumphant debut from an artist who ultimately felt like she lost a piece of herself, or maybe even the whole thing, when it felt like she needed to play the part of "overnight sensation."

One of the major things Rogers talked about with this record is that it's very reflective of the past two years of her life. She took a little bit of time away before returning to re-introduce herself. The record opens up with "Give A Little" which was the final song written for it.

The night before it was released as a single back in July, Rogers posted a handwritten note on her social media. Here's an excerpt:

"I wrote “Give a Little” on the day of the national school walk out for gun control. For all the months I’ve spent feeling helpless and frustrated with the world around me, on that day I was so inspired by the change these students were fighting and continue to fight for. As my friend Taylor put it, “a world where we treat problems as human issues, not political ones.” A world where we are visionary, not reactionary.

This is a song about empathy. In the midst of all this fear and hate, what if we got the chance to re-introduce ourselves? What if somebody listened?"

The emotions continue with "Overnight," a very relatable tune that Rogers describes as a "love/heartache/panic/ecstasy letter from her new self to her old self." Rogers cites the production of the song as one of her favorites, with the synths in the verse being made up of glacier and frog samples.

If you want something fun to dance to on a night out with friends, "The Knife" does not fail to get you shaking your ass. I was listening to it the other day on my walk to work and I felt like an actual bad ass. "Burning" is another fun danceable song about how even with all of the craziness going on, Rogers managed to fall completely head-over-heels in love.

With all of the great new songs to hear, there was also a slew of rather familiar ones. "Alaska" and "On + Off" from Rogers' first EP, make an appearance on the new record. Personally, I didn't know how I would initially feel about these older songs taking up space on the album. "Alaska" made sense only because it was her debut hit and the label probably needed something familiar to attract attention. "On + Off" was confusing, though. It's an extraordinary song and I know she had an important reason behind it—I'm just being salty about the possibility of not having one more new song instead.

Though, part of me wonders if I would have had the same gripe if it were my personal favorite from the EP, "Dog Years." A fan asked Rogers about it on Twitter and she responded by mentioning that she wanted to leave something special on the EP and that "Dog Years" was very auto-biographical of that time in her life when she was graduating.

Somehow, that left me with peace. That made me okay with the fact that it wasn't there and that for some reason, "On + Off" was.

Aside from the old favorites, there are some notable new tracks that I can't wait to see impact the world. "Past Life," undoubtedly related to the title of the record, is the beautiful Fleetwood Mac inspired ballad placed at the center of the record. "Past Life" was apparently the first song written and last recorded for the record.

"Retrograde" is an upbeat indie rock jam about a breakdown that Rogers mentions is the most fun to perform live and "Light On" is a song that if you haven't heard by now, you will soon. It's the current single and it's got the perfect radio-friendly sing a long chorus and has an overall inspiration feel to it. A few weeks back, it topped the Alternative Songs chart.

Now, we make it to my 3 favorite songs. First, we'll discuss the undeniable "Say It." It's obviously a jam, but it's also super relatable. Rogers mentioned that this song was about a crush she had a while back where nothing came out of it, except for this song. Although, the crush didn't work out, I'm glad we have "Say It," the alternative R&B flavored jam with one of Rogers' best vocal performances.

Though, if we're talking about Rogers' best vocals, let's get to a song that's been one of my favorites for the past year. "Fallingwater" was released in May of 2018 as one of the first new offerings from the album, and I was immediately captured by it. The vulnerability, the introspection, the delivery, the production. I gushed all about this song in my "Top Songs" article from last year. I think it's incredible and perfect, but I can also say that about the final song on the album.

"Back In My Body" is without a doubt the biggest moment of the record. At the end of 2017, Rogers released a documentary with the same title, detailing a visit back to Alaska (her first time was the original inspiration for her debut single). In her documentary, she sings an acoustic version of the album closer, where she talks a little bit about the meaning behind the title.

"Being back in my body means being able to do the things I love, but do them in the way I love, and in my way, and in my time, giving myself the opportunity to just be me."

When hearing the song live, I was instantly blown away, but getting the studio version allowed me to really hear what Rogers' was saying. In the first verse she mentions how in London she "felt it coming down. Crashing all around me with a great triumphant sound." In the second verse she talks about being in Paris where she "almost ran away."

It wasn't until I read an interview she did recently with The Independent about those particular incidents, that I finally understood. A few years back in London, she was doing soundcheck and someone asked her why she hadn't done "Alaska" even though she always had to play that song. They said that she needed to do it. Then, halfway through the song she had a panic attack and ran offstage sobbing. Around that time in Paris, she was doing a shoot and then went outside to have a smoke. During that time, she thought about leaving. She said she had enough money for the airport and that she could escape before anyone realized she was gone.

These were things that I never knew about during those years, and knowing that there were so many times when she wasn't sure if she could continue, it just broke my heart. I think there is so much history and emotion stitched into a single song and for it to be the final thing to hear when listening to the record, it's absolutely perfect.

Heard It In A Past Life is a fantastic re-introduction to the indie songstress and as mentioned before, I'm so stoked to see the impact it makes. I can already picture "Back In My Body" being used in some sort of inspirational trailer or during a self-realizing movie scene.

Maggie Rogers is an artist I've been excited about for so long and I am glad that we finally get this full body of work that's been in the making for so long. I highly recommend giving Heard It In A Past Life a listen. I firmly believe that it could be a life-changer.

Heard It In A Past Life is available on Spotify, YouTube, iTunes and everywhere you listen to music.