After Mac Miller's family announced last week that a posthumous album, Circles, would be released to the public, anticipation was high. Before his untimely death in September of 2018, Mac had been working on the project, which serves as a companion album to 2018's Swimming, with Jon Brion, who went on to complete the album "based on his time and conversations with Malcolm" after he passed. All 12 tracks on Circles are both heartbreaking and beautiful. Though some take the tempo up a bit, every track ceases to escape the devastating inflection that his death inevitably has on this existential, posthumous body of work.
On almost every song, Mac posits his self-reflection as a dominating lyrical force, but "I Can See" invites us into his mind plagued with overthinking with a certain sweetness. His delivery of the line from the chorus, "And all I know, if life is but a dream then so are we" is riddled with soulfulness that makes you feel like you're floating. It's on the chorus, too, that Mac's ex-girlfriend, Ariana Grande, has been rumoured to be featured, as a female voice that sounds strikingly similar to Ariana's can be heard harmonizing with Mac. Regardless of whether this is true, these vocals blend so seamlessly with Mac's, and bring "I Can See" to new heights of dreaminess.
Quotable Lyrics
Now I'm switchin' location
'Cause Heaven too far when you live in the basement
I'm lookin' for balance, I'm in an oasis
Well, I need somebody to save me
Before I drive myself crazy
