Mac Miller, rapper, and music artist, died in 2018 from an accidental overdose of oxycodone pills with fentanyl hidden inside. Miller died eerily close to how he predicted to die in his song “Self Care” from the album that had been released only one month before his death.
Before he died, he left a high amount of unreleased music, leaving a lot to be shelved by his label. Since his passing, his estate has released one album and two remasters with new music. One album, “Circles,” was released in 2020, and there was no sight of new music until the next year when a leak of unreleased music showed that his label had scrapped an entire album that he made and almost finished in 2014.
The music, for the most part, was quickly taken down from the internet by the Miller estate and we heard nothing about this album until 2024. At this time, a seemingly random video at Camp Flog Gnaw, the music festival created by Tyler, The Creator, was shown before The Alchemist’s show. It was an animated trailer to the official movie release more than a decade later. The trailer was later released on Instagram with the release date for the album being the same release date as his previous album on Jan. 17.
A week before the release of the album, the Miller estate released one single called
“5 Dollar Pony Rides.” This song was teased at the end of the trailer for the album as a small snippet. The song talks about his longing to connect and be with a girl, but this was a long time ago and she was long gone. This song, while sounding cheerful, has a feeling of personal regret with lines like “Let me give you what you want, and maybe later, want you need.” This sounds more like pleading than anything. Another lyric builds off this theme when he sings, “I remember, girl, you used to have fun…Now, I ain’t seen you smile in a while.” Feeling lonely and wanting to do anything to make this girl happy creates a strong theme and makes it a super cool track.
The album starts with the song, “DJ’s Chord Organ.” You probably know what an organ is, and if you don’t, it’s a type of piano, but instead of using strings like a normal piano, it uses air that you pump in to make low, harmonic notes. A chord organ mimics an organ using electric sound and it is used more in music than normal organs. The song opens with Josh Brag, Mac’s recording engineer who helped with this project, saying a note and then Mac playing said note. He plays the notes until it fades into the music as it becomes the most angelic thing I have ever heard with back vocals by SZA, the famous R&B singer and friend of Mac who dubs for Mac on this song, and Thundercat, a producer who helped produce a lot of this album.
One lyric connects with the song’s theme of withdrawal and the need for drugs to make the world livable. “They repeat the line, ‘Watch the world go ‘round and ‘round and ‘round and ‘round.” Mac’s need for his drug makes him compliment his mailman for getting his drugs to him fast, saying, “You ain’t stopped for gas” and “Is you driving for me? Is you driving across the country?” This makes him special, which is a way that dealers or anyone who manipulates anyone to get more of what they want, and this is how his addiction grows for them to get more money. Amazing song and a great intro.
Jumping further into the album, we get to the track “Funny Paper.” In the song, Mac reads the newspaper and describes what is happening in the world, and includes items like an old person who dies to a baby just born. The song asks the question at the end, “Why does it matter at all?” This one question sounds depressing, but it seems to lead more to his truth. What we do is temporary in our lives, but that doesn’t mean it’s simple.
The final song, “Tomorrow Will Never Know,” is the longest on the album, clocking in at almost 12 minutes! But this song is super sad. It starts with a phone ringing and then the line, “Do you fear (your call has forwarded to an automatic …) that you’ll have no control?” The interruption of the Automatic Voice Message System was to mimic how he thinks his friends and family will hear first if he dies and “you’ll have no control” of how would feel if he doesn’t ever pick up again. Again, this is the very first line and there is already a gut punch.
He also talks about his addiction to drugs with the line, “The Moon is made of water, you swim to the shore/ you can try your best at escaping, the universe is breaking/You say you can’t take it anymore.” The moon is his light of hope to get out of his addiction and he needs to “swim to the shore” to recover, but it is easier said than done as he tries to escape but relapses again and again. Finally, in the chorus, Miller wonders what death is like, asking, “Do they dream just like we do?/Do they love just like we do?” He wonders because he feels that someday, he might overdose and wants to know for the future. The song ends with a six-minute piece that reuses the organ from before as the album finishes.
With this final song, you would think it was over, but no. A short film that was teased with the album was released for free on Amazon Prime and it has to be the most trippy and confusing thing I have ever seen. After you are done listening to the album, go watch that. But overall, this is an amazing album. Every track (except for one) is some of Miller’s best work and this is currently both my favorite Mac Miller and favorite album of the year. The album has 14 songs and is 58 minutes and 42 seconds long. I would give it a 9/10. If you haven’t already, go listen to it right now.
