![]() But it comes with an epiphany, a sort of thesis for the album: “And I know that somebody knows me/I know somewhere, there’s home/I’m startin’ to see that all I have to do is get up and go.”Ĭircles never really opens up into a full-fledged rap album, content to push back and forth between lo-fi beat music and singer-songwriter indie folk, working almost entirely with live arrangements. “Sometimes I get lonely/Not when I’m alone/But it’s more when I’m standin’ in crowds that I’m feelin’ the most on my own,” he raps on “Surf,” a poignant realization for someone who spent his last years surrounded by throngs of fans. On the plucked single “Good News,” he likens the recovery process to spring cleaning, which feels fitting for someone looking to hit the refresh button. ![]() The imagery of a cluttered mind is a near-constant in Miller’s final songs. Both records are about working through depression, how the bad days are long and the good days feel fleeting, but the tone is more optimistic here. “My god, it go on and on/Just like a circle, I go back to where I’m from,” he rapped on Swimming closer “So It Goes.” That record was about being fine on the surface while struggling with anxiety this one is about knowing there’s something to be done about it. Miller seemed to envision Circles as the completion of a loop. Circles provides some resolution and helps finish Miller’s final thoughts. But Swimming hinted at an artist who’d finally cleared his mind and found his footing. There are moments on 2015’s GO:OD AM where his rapping is sharpest, 2014’s Faces accommodated his most ambitious ideas, and 2016’s The Divine Feminine is his most diverse and complete project, a testament to the community of musicians he’d established around him. If Swimming wasn’t Miller’s best album, it was certainly the one where he came into his own as an artist. “We simply know that it was important to Malcolm for the world to hear it.” No clear path,” his family wrote in a letter on his Instagram. ![]() “This is a complicated process that has no right answer. It’s unclear how deep Miller was into the process at the time of his passing, but this sounds like a completed work, or as complete as it can be. A well-deserved silver metal goes to his 2018 release, Swimming.Miller had worked closely on early versions of these songs with composer-producer Jon Brion, who was committed to finishing the album after Miller’s death. is almost like comparing two totally different artists, but that’s why we love Mac. In his final living project, Mac crafted a masterpiece different than any of his previous work. “Self Care” still sits atop Mac’s most popular songs on Spotify, with over 300 million streams to date. While the rapper is clearly beaten down, he seems to adopt an “it is what it is” attitude that carries his confidence through the entire project. Equal parts depressing and hopeful, Mac released classics like “Self Care,” “2009,” “What’s the Use,” and “Small Worlds.” Each and every track on the 13 song album is methodical, vague, and calming. After a sobering breakup with Arianna Grande, Mac took a deep look inside, and delivered his most vulnerable project yet. There was something so wise, and a perspective so vast buried within Swimming that was unprecedented for Mac in his previous projects. It pains me to write about Swimming, since I had tickets to see Mac on his Swimming tour just before his passing. A timeless display of lust and love, The Divine Feminine comes in at #4. He even inserts a recording of his mother telling the story of how she fell in love with his father at the end of “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty” featuring Kendrick Lamar. This album showed a different side of the rapper we all had become accustomed to, and developed a more intimate relationship with his fans. Mac also had help from his lover at the time, featuring Arianna Grande in “My Favorite Part,” and the music video served as a coming out party for the celebrity couple. In what would later become classic Mac fashion, he used a funky instrumental type-beat to flow smoothly and patiently through his verses in the track. Paak, as this song had catapulted up the charts. Everyone remembers “Dang!” with Anderson. At the time of it’s release, Mac Miller had fallen for Arianna Grande, and wrote this entire album with her in mind. The Divine Feminine was our first serious look into Mac’s love life, and marked a major switch in his musical career and personal life.
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