Heard It in a Past Life

Last updated
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers - Heard It in a Past Life.png
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 18, 2019 (2019-01-18)
Genre
Length45:27
Label
Producer
Maggie Rogers chronology
Now That the Light Is Fading
(2017)
Heard It in a Past Life
(2019)
Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011–2016
(2020)
Singles from Heard It in a Past Life
  1. "Alaska"
    Released: October 14, 2016
  2. "On + Off"
    Released: January 17, 2017
  3. "Fallingwater"
    Released: May 23, 2018
  4. "Give a Little"
    Released: July 27, 2018
  5. "Light On"
    Released: October 10, 2018
  6. "Burning"
    Released: January 4, 2019

Heard It in a Past Life is the debut studio album by American indie pop singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, released on January 18, 2019, by Debay Sounds and Capitol Records. With help from its hit single "Light On" (2018), the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and received mostly positive reviews from critics, eventually earning Rogers a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist.

Contents

Recording and production

Rogers worked on the album for two years, with Rostam Batmanglij, Greg Kurstin, and other high-profile musicians in producer roles. [1] Rogers stated in an interview about the album that "there was so much change that happened so fast, I wasn't always sure how to make all this stuff feel like me. I was really overwhelmed for a while, and scared too." [2] [3]

Marketing and sales

The first two singles, "Alaska" and "On + Off", were previously released on Rogers' 2017 EP, Now That the Light Is Fading , followed by "Fallingwater", "Give a Little" and "Light On". [4] [5] "Light On" peaked at number one on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart, becoming her first number one song on any Billboard chart. [6] "Light On" was ranked as the 13th best song of 2019 by Billboard. [7]

Heard It in a Past Life was released on January 18, 2019, by Debay Sounds under exclusive license to Capitol Records. [8] According to Rolling Stone , it "announced her as a major indie-pop force and catapulted her into a yearlong tour of sold-out theaters and massive clubs". [9] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in its first release week, and by April, it had sold 200,000 album-equivalent units. Since in 2019 release, the album has amassed more than 800 million streams on Spotify. [10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 7.0/10 [11]
Metacritic 71/100 [12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Clash 8/10 [15]
Exclaim! 8/10 [16]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [19]
Pitchfork 5.9/10 [20]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [21]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [22]

Heard It in a Past Life was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 23 reviews. [12] Tony Clayton-Lea of The Irish Times called it a "vibrant electro-pop collection", [18] while USA Today 's Maeve McDermott hailed it as one of 2019's best folk-pop albums, along with Weyes Blood's Titanic Rising . [23] Q magazine found the album "thoughtfully constructed and often enchanting", [21] and AllMusic's Heather Phares said Rogers "finds different ways to forge her own bright, assured version of pop" on a "strong debut". [13]

Other reviewers were more critical. Both Laura Snapes of Pitchfork [20] and Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune believed much of the album was overproduced by high-profile co-producers to the detriment of Rogers' talents. [14] Tom Hull said he "could see her developing into some kind of pop star, but may be too adult too early", giving the album a B-plus. [24]

Heard It in a Past Life and "Light On" helped earn Rogers a Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best New Artist for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards (2020). [25]

Rankings

PublicationListRankRef
AlbumismAlbumism's 50 Best Albums of 201938 [26]
Billboard The 50 Best Albums of 20195 [27]
Chorus.fmTop 25 Albums of 201923 [28]
Complex The 50 Best Albums of 201925 [29]
Consequence of Sound The Top 50 Albums of 201925 [30]
Esquire 20 Best Albums of 2019N/A [31]
GQ Best Albums of 2019N/A [32]
Inside Hook 20 Best Albums of 2019N/A [33]
The New Yorker The Best Music of 2019N/A [34]
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 201926 [35]
PopCrush Best Pop Albums of 2019N/A [36]
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 201941 [37]
Vice The 100 Best Albums of 201988 [38]

"N/A" indicates that the publication did not rank the works included in their year-end list.

Track listing

Track listing and credits adapted from Tidal. [39]

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Give a Little"
  • Kurstin
  • Rogers [a]
3:46
2."Overnight"
  • Rogers
  • Kurstin
  • Kurstin
  • Rogers [b]
3:20
3."The Knife"
  • Rogers
  • Kurstin
  • Kurstin
  • Rogers [a]
3:59
4."Alaska"
  • Rogers
  • Doug Schadt
  • Rogers
  • Doug Schadt
3:08
5."Light On"
3:53
6."Past Life"RogersRogers3:36
7."Say It"
  • Rogers
  • Tor Miller
  • Jack Hallenbeck
3:40
8."On + Off"
  • Rogers
  • Nicholas Das
  • Rogers
  • Schadt
  • Das
3:41
9."Fallingwater"
  • Rogers
  • Batmanglij
4:31
10."Retrograde"
  • Rogers
  • Kurstin
  • Kurstin
  • Rogers [a]
4:11
11."Burning"
  • Rogers
  • Reed
3:33
12."Back in My Body"
  • Rogers
  • Rogers
  • Kurstin
4:09
Total length:45:27

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Charts

Chart (2019)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [40] 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [41] 92
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [42] 10
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [43] 95
Irish Albums (IRMA) [44] 30
Scottish Albums (OCC) [45] 18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [46] 49
UK Albums (OCC) [47] 25
US Billboard 200 [48] 2
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [49] 1
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [50] 3

Certifications

Certifications for Heard It in a Past Life
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [51] Gold40,000
United States (RIAA) [52] Gold500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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