40. HEARD IT IN A PAST LIFE by Maggie Rogers

Though I hadn’t heard of this 2019 record until 2020, it quickly became one of my favorites of the year. Pharrell Williams had a hand in promoting Rogers, having taught her in an NYU music class (you can find a video online of Rogers playing her song ‘Alaska’ for him during class). Genre-wise, she has been called a singer-songwriter, indie pop, folk pop, etc. However, regardless of the pigeon-hole you want to put this record in, the one thing that holds true is that it is a really strong full length debut album by the (at the time) 24-25 year old Rogers. The big three on this record for me are ‘Back in my Body,’ ‘Light On’ and ‘Retrograde.’