Album Review: Mac Miller’s 'Circles' is Full of Bittersweet Beauty
While Circles provides some of the best music in Mac’s discography, Mac’s headspace throughout the project tells a much darker tale.
Written by Thomas Galindo
Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This is it. Most likely, this is the last bit of music that will be added to the late Mac Miller’s discography. Mac passed away in September of 2018, a little over a month after releasing his fifth studio album Swimming. He was one of the most beloved, least polarizing, most easygoing figures in hip-hop by far. He built this reputation by never stirring any drama, making the music he wanted to make, and releasing it when he wanted to release it. This approach certainly prevented his albums from achieving their full potential in sales, streams, and accolades, but he didn’t care, because that wasn’t what mattered to him. In 2013, he released Watching Movies with the Sound Off, only his second album, on the same day as highly anticipated albums from J. Cole (Born Sinner) and Kanye West (Yeezus). He also released Swimming on the same day as highly anticipated albums from Travis Scott (Astroworld) and YG (STAY DANGEROUS) in 2018. In fact, at the time, there was a meme circulating the internet making fun of fans who listened to Swimming before Astroworld. So even if the world didn’t have Mac’s back in August of 2018, people held their breath in anticipation of Mac’s first and, presumably, only posthumous release this past weekend, Circles.
Photo courtesy of Warner Music Group
It can be tough to critique the work of artists who are no longer here with us. There should always be a tone of reverence when writing about an artist as prolific and well-loved as Mac, and Circles doesn’t make that very hard. In what was publicized as a companion album for Swimming, Circles is a 49 minute, 12-song album that gracefully captures Mac Miller’s somber headspace in the days leading up to his unexpected death.
The album is, in a word, breathtaking. He demonstrates a wide technical range, from upbeat instrumentation and catchy hooks like those on “Complicated” and “Blue World,” to somber, heart-wrenching raps about Mac’s vulnerability on “Once a Day” and the single “Good News.” None of that changes the fact that this album is tough to listen to for anyone with a heart. Yes, the music is pleasing to the ear and full of passion, but it also shows a hurting side of Mac, expressing that he feels like a burden to those around him. On Circles, Mac reaches the peak of comfort with his own sound. He doesn’t try too hard to fit a mood, and the writing isn’t overly complex. At times, the lyrics can even seem a bit cliché and simplified, like on the song “Everybody,” where the hook sings: “Everybody's gotta live, and everybody's gonna die.” But, what makes this music special is the sincerity behind it. Which is what makes the listening experience so bittersweet.
“Well, this is what it look like right before you fall,” Mac says on the title track “Circles.” And apparently, this is, in fact, what it looks like. The lyrics can be very bleak when contextualized with his death. They sound like a cry for help from someone afraid to disappoint his loved ones by not acting like the ray of sunshine he usually is. Consistently, Mac raps about wishing people would lower their expectations of him, appreciate the present, and understand his perspective. Lyrics such as “’Fore I start to think about the future, first, can I please get through a day / Without any complications?” and “Carrying this weight'll break your glass knees” suggest that the reason this music seems so pure is because these are authentic feelings. Sadly, if this album had been released while Mac was still alive, it might have compelled those close to him to check up on him sooner and prevent his eventual overdose.
There has not been a more properly handled posthumous release. In a world where it seems that dead rappers are cash cows, and posthumous releases are sheer money grabs, we rest assured knowing that it was Mac’s intent to release this album. And that is what posthumous music should be about: the artist’s intent. If these were all rough cuts that Mac never really fleshed out for release, it would have been wrong for his estate to release them. But, this album sounds complete, and Mac’s fans were surely meant to meet this side of him, as tough as it is to hear. Hopefully, this will be a lesson that artists and performers are people, not a product. Everybody deserves to feel loved, and not feel like a burden — and for all the great music and moments Mac lived through, he deserved to be happy. We now know that he wasn’t. But, towards the end of the album, on the song “Surf,” he leaves his listeners, for the last time, with some optimism for the future: “I know we try, and the days, they go by, until we get old / There's water in the flowers, let's grow.”
Rest in peace, Mac Miller.