44: Maggie Rogers (A+→S-→S)

Maggie Rogers in tier list

really solid, lots of good songs, consistent

RELISTEN1: I love Heard It in a Past Life. I love it a lot, I always have, it’s one of my favorite albums. When I did my first listen and ranking of Maggie Rogers, it was the only album she had out; it’s what I based her initial A+ on. I listened to her next albums as they came out but neither of them made anywhere near the same impression on me. I really really loved Heard It in a Past Life. I’ve listened to it many times, but not always with much attention and focus. I mostly listen to it to enjoy it, not to reevaluate it. This was the first time I did listen to reevaluate in a long while, and I’m definitely glad I did. The first half of the album is phenomenal, it’s as good or better than it is in my head, some of my absolute favorite songs. The second half has a couple more songs that are on that level, but for the most part it’s just pretty good. In my head, this album was a perfect album. Not necessarily the best album, or the perfect album, but a perfect album. Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales, fun.’s Aim and Ignite, Brandon Flowers’ The Desired Effect— I think those are all perfect albums. In my head, so was Heard It in a Past Life, but listening to it again I think it’s only very very excellent. That’s a little bit of a bummer, but the bright side is that when relistening to her other two albums I found I liked them way, way more than I remembered.

When I first listened to Surrender, I thought it was fine. There were a couple songs I liked, but none of them were the “perfect songs” I was hoping for, none of them could hope to match the perfect songs in Past Life. More than that, the album as a whole didn’t stand out to me. That impression of Surrender wasn’t enough to warrant liking Rogers less, it didn’t diminish Past Life, but it was a bit of a bummer to me that the new album was just alright when Past Life was, in my head, a perfect album. Relistening to Surrender this go around was a very different experience. This was the first time I’d listened to the whole album since it first came out. I was three quarters of the way through my relisten, still just thinking it was nothing special, when something about it started to change in my ears. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it was just the mood I was in; my heart was a little bit heavy at that moment, so it definitely could have been that. Whatever it was, something in the album started to resonate with me. So I listened to it again, an extra time, not required for the relisten. I don’t know if what I needed was that extra repetition or if it was the extra time or if it was just random, but it hit me different. I still don’t think Surrender has any “perfect songs” the way I feel like Past Life has “perfect songs”, but I do think it’s a very excellent album.

Past Life isn’t as good as my memories of it, but the parts that are are impeccable. Surrender connected with me in a way I didn’t expect it to— as an album I think it’s probably the best arranged and put together. Don’t Forget Me is super solid, pretty inscrutable. It doesn’t have a specific niche for me the way Surrender and Past Life do. I don’t really have a lot to say about it. I don’t think it’s worse, I just don’t have a novel thing to say about it. It’s also great. I ended up spending this last week or so listening to all three albums again and again, over and over, each one at least three times through. They’re all so good. Maggie Rogers is so good. I’m pretty thoroughly sold. I’m bumping Rogers up to an S-, I’m convinced, I’m a fan

RELISTEN2: Heard it in a Past Life really is so perfect for night time music. Ugh, it is perfect, the vibes are so good. It takes me over, I really truly do love it. I’ve loved it for a long time. I still do. (Neither of those are songs from this album, but they are very good)

Surrender is one of my most feels album of all time. Meaning, of all the many albums I’ve listened to, this is one that most makes me feel the feels. Y’know? Or, when I have the feels, this is one of the albums I’m consistently drawn to listen to. It sits in me, it stirs me up. I relate to it so strongly. Sometimes when the feels are too much, when I get lost in them, I feel like I can listen to this and it’ll walk me through them a little bit. Teach me how to feel. It’s still so interesting to me how much I did not care about it at first. I remember really being so indifferent, so unimpressed. Then one day I had an urge to listen to it while I was having a tough night and I absolutely fell in love with it, and I’ve only come to love it more and more since. I love the music and the lyrics and the feeling, it is so very much my jam, I do adore

Don’t Forget Me feels softer and fluffier, in some ways lighter, less chunky, less substantial than Rogers’ other albums. While I do miss that something in it, I still really quite like the album. It still has “The Kill”, which hits me super hard. That song kinda anchors the whole album in place for me.

Anyway. That’s my little rundown, album by album. I’ve loved Maggie Rogers quite a lot, pretty much from the get-go. Over the years, I’ve only come to love her music more and more. Not only that, but over the years I’ve come to feel emotionally attached and connected to her music more and more. More than maybe any other artist I listen to. There are others that I’ve loved and have come to love more. There are others for which I’ve felt some attachment or connection to the artist. I don’t know that there are many others for which I’ve developed such an emotionally rich relationship.

I’ve known this for a while; this relisten is predicated on that feeling, on the itch that I’ve had for a long time now that Rogers not being a full S is an obvious misrepresentation of my feelings about her. So now I can satisfy that itch and make her a full S. I’m gonna put Maggie Rogers right below half•alive—I feel plenty good about that, but it is, like, a decision that I’m having to make, it’s not a gimme. Which is kinda wild because I adore half•alive. But, like, yeah. I adore Maggie Rogers, too. It really has been a long time coming, in my head at least. I distinctly remember somebody asking me, in person, a couple months ago who my favorite artists were, and I said my top three were The Killers, half•alive, and Maggie Rogers. It wasn’t until a couple days later that I realized that was not what I had written down, and that it needed to be. And now it is! Go team