Thatโs not to say itโs treading in the same waters, though, no pun intended. Where Swimmingย seemed soaked in atmospheric hushes and smothered in echoed reverb,ย Circlesย is a more immediate and straight forward listen. From its poignant lead single โGood Newsโ to the smooth, jazzy track โHand Me Downsโ, Macโs lyrics seem to eerily foreshadow his early death, almost as if he knew what was ahead. And, oddly, he seems okay with it. In his own words, โthereโs more waiting on the other sideโ.
Many, many moments here will have any Mac Miller fan close to tears. The crooning vocals on โEverybodyโ, coupled with a simple drum and piano score, feel painfully sad to hear given the context. Elsewhere, โThatโs On Meโ sees Mac take on the blame for all of his personal faults and let downs, never offering solutions to his problems but accepting them all the same.
Thereโs a range of tones throughout, too, including the electro-funk banger โBlue Worldsโ, and the fizzing, bouncy โComplicatedโ. Macโs personality is all still here, as he weaves through complex, heavy introspection and finds peace in himself, expanding upon the funky grooves ofย Swimmingโsย lighter moments. Occasionally he deviates away from hip-hop entirely, sounding like a Beatles prodigy on tracks such as โCirclesโ and โSurfโ, but never straying too far from the sounds that make him so well loved.
Itโs also hard for me to keep an objective perspective when listening to this record. As someone who is deeply attached to his previous album,ย Circlesย was always going to be an emotional experience. Iโm wholly satisfied with how the project turned out though, and in many ways this is a loving and reassuring closure to a life that should never have been cut so short or so soon.
Circlesย is a reminder of how fleeting and how fragile our lives are. Macโs work was a pallet of colour, vibrancy, and disarming openness, and I often had to remind myself that the vocals I was hearing throughout were from someone who was no longer with us.
Given the circumstances, this album comes across almost other worldly, as if an apparition is speaking from somewhere else, trapped inside twelve tracks. This isnโt the case, of course, but thereโs something deeply comforting aboutย Circles. It feels like the calm after a storm, a hug after upset, the ray of sunshine that comes after a long, tiring period of greyness. I apologise if that all sounds like wanky nonsense, but itโs easy to get overwhelmed with emotion when talking about this record.
I hope that this is the last album we hear from Macโs team. Iโd hate to see his name go the way of XXXTentacion and Lil Peep, used by record labels for a shameless buck. For now, things seem bright, andย Circlesย should stand as the last and potentially best work from one of hip-hopโs brightest talents. Itโs a smile from someone whoโs no longer here, and itโs a genuine joy to listen to.
Rest easy, Mac Miller.
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