Background:
Malcolm McCormick, professionally known as Mac Miller, has been making music his entire life. By the time he was six years old, he could play guitar, bass, drums, and piano, all of which were self taught. He had always wanted to be a songwriter, but at 14 during a weed-inspired freestyle session with his friends, he fell in love with hip hop and put those songwriter dreams on hold. Only a year later, he released his first mixtape under the name Easy Mac called But My Mackin’ Ain’t Easy. He would release a few more projects in high school and change his stage name to Mac Miller, but what brought him to the mainlight was 2010’s K.I.D.S. Songs like “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza” and “Nikes on my Feet” show the carefree, easily likeable artist that Mac is. He was a newly graduated high schooler and that feeling of invincibility while hanging out with your friends that he was experiencing was exactly who the project was marketed to. The same goes for his next mixtape 8 months later, Best Day Ever. The themes are the same, except this time the hit songs were even bigger. “Donald Trump” became his first ever placement on the Billboard Top 100, first platinum hit, and even allowed Mac to get under the orange man’s skin.
All of this led to his debut album in November 2011, Blue Slide Park. It didn’t break any new ground for Mac, but it showed just how popular he had become. The album debuted at number one with 144,000 first week sales, the largest for an independently distributed album since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s 1995 classic, E. 1999 Eternal. Unfortunately, the album was not received well critically, many calling it bland and useless for anyone outside his target demographic. As usual, Pitchfork was the biggest attacker, giving the album a rare, and almost legendary, 1.0. Less than 5 months later, Mac would return with a slightly different sound that would help jumpstart his evolution throughout his career.
Macadelic showed Mac dipping his toe into different sounds. Many of the songs were more psychedelic than previous projects, as evident by the title. Even though his lead single, “Loud”, was still a party song, it’s not carefree or boombap-inspired anymore. Instead, it’s a full out electronic infused banger with Mac making references to lean “I got codeine in my cup, you bet your ass I’m sippin.” His addiction to lean led him to not only change his sound, but become more introspective and depressed, many of the same themes that he would touch on with his next few projects.
Watching Movies With The Sound Off showed Mac tumbling down the rabbit hole of drug addiction and depression. He was very up front with his substance abuse problems, which at this point in time was no longer lean, but experimenting with a plethora of different substances. For as dark and personal as this album was, his 2014 mixtape Faces was him at rock bottom. Almost every track out of the 24 on here is about how his drug addiction, specifically to cocaine, has affected his life, to the point where he thought the final track on the project would be the final track he would ever make, “Let’s have a grand finale. The world will be fine without me.” Even the very first lyric that opens up the project is, “I shoulda died already.” As with many artists, the best music comes from the darkest points, and this project is considered one of Mac’s best by many fans. But this mixtape was very much a cry for help and it’s hard to overstate the feeling of despair and suicidal tendencies that Faces gives off. (More reading on why this type of music is often held in high regard)
Thankfully, Mac made it through this dark period and after finally signing to a major label in 2015, he released his third studio album, GO:OD AM. Mac isn’t quite out of the hole on this project, but he’s more optimistic than before about his problems. Instead of the personal reflection being about him thinking he’s going to die, it’s about him starting to fix the problems at hand, but not actually having them 100% fixed. But with personal reflection comes heartbreaking lines that makes it hard to listen to now. “To everyone who sells me drugs: don’t mix it with that bullshit; I’m hopin’ not to join the 27 Club” is a particularly hard one to hear now. “Perfect Circle/Godspeed” is where the line is from, as Mac imagines what would happen if he OD’s during the final verse of the 7 minute track.
Next was his romance album in 2016, The Divine Feminine. It wasn’t only about romantic love, but also about other lessons he learned from women in his life. It’s also hard to talk about the project without mentioning then girlfriend, Ariana Grande. Even though she says only one track is about her, she also shows up later on the album for one of the best tracks, “My Favorite Part”. Mac was trying to be sober during this process, and he was succeeding. During one interview, he disclosed that he was 88 days sober. The album showed Mac straying away from his drug heavy subject matter and style, instead it was now soulful and filled with layers of instrumentation. It helped lay the groundwork for what would come a couple years later.
2018’s Swimming took the groundwork he did with his previous project and brought it to a new level. The album was lush with bass, guitar, vocal layering, and much more. His subject matter is back to a lot of introspection about his life and career up to this point. Although he had been doing it slightly in his previous projects, this project really shows him leaning into his singing ability, sometimes on entire songs. The opener, “Come Back to Earth”, is a perfect example of this. It’s just him singing over this underwater landscape of synth, bass, and guitar while meditating on the state of his life, “In my own way, this feels like livin. Some alternate reality. And I was drowning, but now I’m swimming; through stressful waters to relief.” Something else cool that he does on Swimming is making well known people just instruments in the background. For example, “What’s the Use?” has a great bassline from Thundercat, but also has backing vocals from The Internet’s Syd and youth football coach Snoop Dogg. Or on “Self Care”, which has additional vocals from Atlanta rapper JID and R&B visionary Blood Orange. It’s a truly beautiful listen that shows Mac going through personal hardships, including his breakup with Ariana, but this time already looking towards the other side.
On September 7th, 2018, Mac Miller was found unresponsive in his home and was later pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death was later revealed to be a “mixed drug toxicity” consisting of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol. It was a day that rocked not only the hip hop world, but the music world as a whole. Every person that was a fan of Mac remembers that day. Due to how introspective and honest Mac’s music had become, his loss left many fans without their hero. He was the type of artist that fans could easily build a personal connection with, connecting themselves onto a mentor going through similar struggles. They had grown up with him; going from the highschool parties, to identity crisis while trying to make it in the real world, their first real relationship, and finally to emotional maturity. Many people, me included, thought that Mac’s musical career was over. After all, his parents owned his music and controlled if there was anything new released, and they were being protective of not only his music, but a documentary that was attempted to be made during the first half of 2019. But that would all change at the beginning of 2020.
Analysis:
On January 8th, 2020, it was revealed that Mac’s sixth and final album would be released 9 days later. It turns out that Mac’s 2018 milestone Swimming was not a standalone album, but one half of a concept he was working on called Swimming in Circles. Circles was being made alongside Swimming and only needed some fine-tuning and decision making for it to be put out. So a few months after Mac passed away, his family reached out to the only person that was talented enough and around Mac enough during this process to finish the project to its full potential, Jon Brion.
There’s no way to talk about Circles without mentioning the impact of Jon Brion. Jon Brion is most known for his film scores of everything from comedy classics like Step Brothers and Punch-Drunk Love to fantastic dramas like Lady Bird and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But even outside of the film scores, he’s subtly been a part of many landmark albums in music during the past couple decades. He’s worked with indie darlings like Fiona Apple and Elliott Smith, music legends like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, 2010s pop giants like Katy Perry and Michael Buble, R&B influencers like Frank Ocean and Beyonce, and even hip hop artists like Kanye. So when someone with the status and resume of Jon talks about Mac like “I was more excited about him than I’ve been in quite some time,” it just shows how much of a talent and impact that Mac had on people.
But looking away from Jon’s resume, he was personally sought out by Mac for his help on Swimming and Circles. He became Mac’s mentor during these sessions, not only providing his own instrumentation, but also having Mac look to him after most takes to see if it was good enough. Especially on the songs that were more traditional in their songwriting than Mac’s rap style, he would constantly ask Jon for help and to replace what he laid down, but Jon would just tell him that it was great and reassure him of his talent. Because of these sessions, the family asked Jon if he would finish the album, which he thankfully did. Even looking at the credits for the project, we can see that Jon has credits on every track besides “Blue World”. There’s no way that Circles would be finished, publically released, or up to this quality without the work of Jon Brion. So now that the work behind the album has been established, let’s dive into the album properly.
Circles starts off with the minimalistic and quiet title track. Much of the instrumental sounds like layers of chimes while Mac meditates on the overarching theme of the album, being stuck in the cycle that is his life. The song also shows something small, but important that happens on this album, which is that Mac’s voice is super high in the mix. He’s singing right in your ear and while his voice might not be objectively great, the emotion bleeds through the performance. That emotion is here in full effect with the lyrics, as this is one of the tracks that sounds eerily prophetic when it comes to Mac passing away. Starting the song with, “Well, this is what it looks like right before you fall,” might be the most heartbreaking way to start off a posthumous release. It also helps build the bridge from the previous album, as he mentions circles on the last line of his last verse on the last song on Swimming, “Just like a circle, I go back where I’m from.”
The next song is the synth heavy, instantly catchy “Complicated”. It’s not that complex, lyrically or sonicalically, but the simplicity is part of the charm with this one. You could even argue that the directness plays into the subject matter of the song of Mac trying to minimize the complications that are in his life. “Blue World” then brings the project to one of the two traditional rap songs on the project. Produced by one half of the electronic duo Disclosure, the song flips a 1950s sample into an upbeat, electronic banger about both the negatives and positives of living life with his level of benefits and hindrances. It’s a perfect song on here to play as an out-of-the-context single, but the next song is the agonizing debut single from the record, “Good News”.
“Good News” is the song that introduced us to this project, and boy was it an emotional rollercoaster hearing it for the first time. The song is full of plucking guitars and little bass embellishments that help play into the meandering thoughts Mac provides on the track. He sounds in a crestfallen state of peace while recording this track, which is both depressing and freeing considering the lyrics are about being depressed and needing some good news to get through the day. And just like every other song on here, there was one specific part that breaks me down everytime. When the song transitions into the third verse and he starts it off saying, “There’s a whole lot more for me waiting on the other side. I’m always wondering if it feels like summer,” it just destroys every time. This track was one that no matter if you were a big fan of his previous work or not, it left everyone in tears.
The next song, “I Can See”, is one song that Jon barely had any part in but it still blew him away enough to put it on here. As he describes a few songs on the record, he talks about this song by saying “This is good by anyone’s standards, in any genre, this human being is expressing themselves well,” and that holds after listening to it as well. It continues the themes of expressing how his problems have affected others from both the positive and negative sides. The first verse is the positive side about wanting to change for the better, while the second verse is where the drugs take their hold over him. This theme is especially evident, and also saddening, considering Ariana has backing vocals on the track, and it’s rumoured that a big reason their relationship ended is because of Mac’s drug addiction.
“Everybody” is where the shift in the album comes, and not just because this is a cover of Arthur Lee’s 1972 track “Everybody’s Gotta Live”, but because Mac delves further into his singer-songwriter vibe with this half of the album. It starts out with what will likely be one of people’s favorite, or least favorite parts of the album. All it consists of is Mac’s barebones singing over a minimal piano, but whether or not his woozy, emotive vocal performance connects with the listener is a good indicator of if this album’s for you or not. The rest of the song sounds straight out of a live performance with a drum and piano led performance and some subtle bass additions from Mac himself. Although it’s a cover, this song shows Mac succeeding in a new style that he will improve on himself later in the tracklist with “Hand Me Downs”.
“Hand Me Downs” is my personal favorite track on the project. It continues the same live band feel, but this time is led by drums and guitar instead of piano. There’s something so peaceful about this song every time something new comes in. The first strum of guitar, the first time Mac starts singing, and the first time Baro Sura comes in all contribute to this level of ultimate peace that the song gives off. I wish I knew enough about music theory to describe why it makes the listener feel this way, but hopefully Dissect talks about it when their review season eventually comes out. For now though, this song just pushes all the right buttons for a relaxing, but uplifting tune. Even the subject matter is still super personal for Mac, but is relatable enough for everyone to relate it to their own lives.
Between these two songs is “Woods”, another synth heavy, drum led track about a broken relationship. He tells a simple, but moving story by comparing moving on from his previous relationship to the old saying of being “out of the woods”. His uplifting, but still deeply introspective story comes through over the almost five minute long song that transitions perfectly into “Hand Me Downs”. Following that track is a personal anecdote of Mac taking accountability for his life called “That’s On Me”. It has the classic waltz three-step to it in the Jon Brion played piano that helps give the track an extra layer of flavor. The track consists of Mac realizing where he is with his addiction and that no matter what it does to him, he’ll try to maintain his friendships. It’s yet another song that couldn’t fit anywhere in Mac’s discography besides here due to how much it sounds like a singer-songwriter song.
“Hands” is the most traditional rap song on here with some gigantic, orchestral production that whirles it’s way around the speakers. But even though it’s as close to a traditional rap song as Circles has, it still contains multiple types of organs and a bunch of bells as extra layering. With all these different sounds, it almost seems out of place listening to the album, but the subject matter helps tie it in with the rest of the project. He’s once again ruminating on his own personal problems that is emphasized by his addiction, but also problems that most people can relate to. The penultimate track, “Surf”, then shows Mac trying to be objective about his relationship with his audience. The chorus on here is one of the many references to water and swimming on this project, once again connecting it to his previous album. The biggest sonic change for this song is a fuzzed out guitar that’s so fuzzy it barely sounds like a guitar that Jon plays throughout the track. I’m sure it’s more accurately represented from something else, but even from first listen, it immediately brought me back to Redbone’s bombastic outro.
“Once a Day” closes out the album perfectly with a washy keyboard led ballad. Fans had actually heard this song before from the Celebration of Life concert held in Mac’s honor that was closed out with Mac playing a solo piano version of this track. It’s a fairly straightforward piano ballad, but his performance and lyrics sell it yet again. All the lines about depression and coping are once again vague enough for it to personally relate to every single listener, but also specific enough for everyone to know where Mac was coming from with the track. It also creates a musical perfect loop with the first track, as Dissect recently pointed out. The first track resolves the harmonic cliffhanger that the album ends on (and u|turangalila_, if you want to share the technical details for why this resolves, I’m sure there’s a few of us that would love to read it). There’s no other track on here that could close out this gorgeous, tragic project.
Circles is unlike anything Mac has ever released, and will ever release. It’s not only Mac coming full circle with his artistic evolution, but him becoming at peace with his problems. These songs just ooze this feeling of being at peace with life, but unfortunately, life's a circle. While he appeared to be at peace at this point in time, he knew that he would once again fall back into the cycle of a debilitating problem and having to fix it. He finally figured out the circle that his life revolved around and was ready to fight whatever life threw at him, but he never got the chance. Just hearing someone who had struggled this much with drugs and addiction most of his life in this state of mind immediately makes it something special, but the musicality and songwriting backs up everything that he had going for. Even from the first couple listens, I knew that this would be the soundtrack to hopefully finding some peace in 2020. And while the year obviously took a big turn from where I thought, this album helped myself and many others to find moments of solace during this life-altering time period.
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