Circles - Mac Miller: Review
was a California based rapper, singer, songwriter and producer who passed away in 2018 at just 26 years old. Circles is a project he was in the midst of creating at the time of his passing and the record was finished by its executive producer Jon Brion who tried to best complete the album to Mac's vision.
Review By Lavender:
It is always a difficult tightrope walk critiquing the work of an artist that has passed. Both to avoid sounding disrespectful to their legacy as well as trying to gauge how much of it was their own artistic intent verses work done on the record after their death. Mac Miller was by all accounts an absolutely great dude and his death is a tragedy that I wish could have been avoided just as much as anyone else. This doesn't change the fact that I was never really that big of a fan of Mac, I thought his 2013 record Watching Movies With The Sound Off was decent but since he moved to a major label it had been one disappointment after another culmination with the last record he released in his lifetime the vapid and underwritten Swimming. I wasn't planning on even formerly reviewing Circles until I heard its beautiful lead single Good News, but with the entire record out now it is easy to see how it suffers in many of the same ways Mac's last few record have.
There is nothing to be gained from me picking apart the tracks on here that I didn't enjoy, but I do just want to make note of them. Circles, Everybody. That's On Me and Surf are some of the most taxing songs on the record and make up the weakest portion of it. Songs like Complicated. I Can See and Woods suffer from some issues on the singing and vocals front, but have some descent elements.
For the rest of the songs on the record there is plenty to like. Good News was the lead single that got me anticipating this record in the first place. It's a beautiful and captivating ballad that is made so tragic alongside Mac's passing but was definitely a song the world deserved to hear. Blue World has one of the best beats on the record and it's so good that even Mac kind of rambling over top of it sounds wonderful and makes for another highlight. Hand Me Downs is the only song on the record that has a feature and it is a pretty good one as Baro Sura's great chorus is one of the most memorable moments on the entire record. The song is a little bit longer than I would have liked but ultimately its solid. Hands sees Mac bringing a strong swagger to his vocal delivery that I wish he would have has more often, and paired with a very solid beat it makes for one of the most complete songs on the record.
Circles isn't really going to change anyone's mind. If you loved Mac and everything he did you are certainly going to eat up the record and if you weren't a fan during his lifetime I don't see this one changing your mind. Unfortunately I land in the latter group, but I do want to praise this record for honoring Mac's memory rather than simply capitalizing on it. With posthumous records increasingly becoming sad cash grabs like the abuse of XXXTENTACION's creativity by his label, and the unfinished set of Juice WRLD's tracks we will almost certainly be getting soon. But with the exception of Everybody and That's On Me these songs feel finished, well thought out, and show Mac in at least as bright of a light as the music he released during his lifetime. The reception of this record by Mac's fans has been proof enough that it was handled effectively. 4.5/10
For more hip hop check out my review of Lil Wayne's Funeral here
