Mac Miller
Circles

Mac Miller was an American artist who found fame as a teenage rapper starting around 2010. His career seemed like a continuous climb to success, where Miller, a young man, proved himself as an artist, producer, and musician. Not too attached to labels, he never played by the rules, refusing the definition of a rapper and creating music that lay between hip-hop, pop, R&B, and more.

With each album, Miller continued to grow until the release of Swimming in 2018. It was just a few days after the release of this last one that the young artist died at only 26 due to an accidental overdose. "Swimming" was an album that juxtaposed hip-hop, funk, and soul with darker and more personal atmospheres. Guests such as Thundercat, John Mayer, and even Snoop Dogg clearly demonstrate the respect this young man earned in the American scene, often smothered by the weight of having to shed the childish label from a few years earlier.

This year it came out that "Swimming" was the first part of a planned trilogy of albums, with a second work, "Circles," almost completed at the time of Mac Miller's death. If "Swimming" was closer to the author's hip-hop roots, "Circles" is hard to define as a rap album. It is more of a sort of modern songwriting, with musical influences so diverse that it would take several pages to dissect and explore them all. The stellar production by Jon Brion, which gave the album an organic sound full of live-played instruments and vintage analog synths, is a significant help. Notably, the use of the vibraphone, which is a star in many pieces on this record. The tracks were played with the help of a cast of excellent musicians, including some who recorded for artists like the great Prince. To add more fuel to the fire, "Circles" was also recorded in one of the coolest studios on the planet, Conway Studios in Los Angeles. In a world where singles are released at lightning speed, productions with so much care, budget, and passion are extremely rare. This alone should be an incentive to give this album a chance, even for those who might frown upon the artist and his background.

Beyond the more technical aspects of the production, this is an album with a very melancholic atmosphere. I am already beginning to see the torches and pitchforks on the horizon for what I'm about to write, but there is another album that carries a very similar electrostatic charge in my opinion: In Utero by Nirvana. Mac Miller's charisma is palpable from the first notes, and in a way, it makes me think of a young Kurt Cobain, conflicted between his instincts and struggling against the pressures and expectations of a future that unfortunately is destined never to arrive.

The opening track, the one from which the album takes its name, almost makes me think of "Walk On The Wild Side" by Lou Reed, and already as an introduction, it is a song that will surprise those expecting the typical sound of modern rap.

"Complicated" has urban references similar to the '80s and a carefree melody that hides lyrics with a high rate of existential paranoia - just like "Blue World," which perhaps is one of the only true moments that are almost completely hip-hop on this album. The almost-ballad "Good News" is one of the signature tracks of this album: a sea that seems calm on the surface, but underneath it is a whirlpool storm. Worth noting is the beautiful "Hand Me Downs" which, if recorded by an Al Green or Marvin Gaye at Motown studios, would surely have become a classic track. It seems that towards the last months of his life, the artist was very interested in music from the '60s and '70s, as demonstrated by the beautiful cover of "Everybody," already made famous by Arthur Lee. This new interpretation of the track seems almost like a "first take" given its incredible spontaneity.

While the aforementioned Cobain expressed his uncertainty with roaring guitars and heartbreaking feedback, Miller retreats into himself, trying to make sense of the world, with sharp observations and total honesty, not just towards his audience but also towards himself.

It might be hindsight given the artist's fate, but this album is like a beautiful yet terribly sad painting. Perhaps what strikes most is that such a talented young person was cut down at a time when he was reaching a remarkable artistic peak, which unfortunately will never have the chance to expand beyond. Life is like that, and "what ifs" serve no purpose. What remains is an album that I wouldn't dare to call a masterpiece, from the heart of a guy who started his career with "Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza" and had to hit the "pause" button forever.