I came into the previous new music Friday not searching out or knowing that Maggie Rogers was dropping an album, but when I found out she had, I was excited to give the project a listen. After pressing play, I knew 'Don't Forget Me' was going to be something special. This album is a concise 10-song experience with no skips, and I’m here to explain exactly why you should give it a listen for yourself.

You may know Maggie from her viral song “Alaska” that she made as an NYU student, yes the one that left Pharrell dumbfounded,  and I found myself feeling the same emotions as him when I got to the second track on the album, “Drunk.” I listened to it five times in a row on repeat, and I even started recommending this album to people I wouldn’t regularly share music with. This album unexpectedly blew me away.

Maggie’s career has had a steady growth trajectory, and I believe this third album installment (and coinciding arena tour) will take her to a superstar level. From her passionate emotional voice intertwined with uptempo drums on “Drunk,” to her sad singer-songwriter piano ballad on “I Still Do,” Maggie delivers everything you could want from an album. Every second of the 35-minute project is filled to the brim with captivating purpose and zero filler.

What really makes this most recent release from Maggie even more special is what she is doing to make the tour an experience for her audience. Maggie is known to sell tickets in person, and with this being her first arena tour, she is bringing touring back “like it's 1965.” The reason behind this strategy is to reduce the stranglehold ticketing companies have with fees and an effort to prevent bots from buying her tickets as was infamously seen on the Taylor Swift tour. She is naming this effort “Box Office Week,” and when you arrive at the venue box office, you can choose your seat for a special reduced price. Maggie will also be selling her tickets herself by hand in select cities to really drive this idea home.

All in all, “Don’t Forget Me” brings something for everyone to enjoy, but in particular, I would recommend this album to anyone who is seeking a reinvention of a sound you would expect to hear in the 1980’s. If Maggie is coming to your city I highly recommend taking advantage of this special experience, and even if she’s not, I couldn’t recommend her album more.