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In September 2018, Malcom James McCormick, aka, Mac Miller, tragically passed away due to a drug overdose on a laced substance. He passed just one month after the release of his final album “Swimming”, which caught a lot of attention from listeners and countless more after the devastating news. Looking at Malcom’s bodies of work, we can see that he has sonically undergone very unique and unexpected transitions in genre from his beloved classic pop rap, like his 2011 hit single “nikes on my feet” to jazz/ neo-soul and being one of the most prominent representative faces to abstract hip-hop.

In January of 2020, Malcom’s family took to his personal Instagram account to post and inform that an unfinished project of Mac’s will be releasing on January 17th. “Circles”, his Posthumous record, was in the final stages of the recording and mixing process and was set to be the second half to his final album, “swimming”. The theme was that Malcom is “Swimming in Circles”. Multi-instrumentalist and producer, John Bryan, who was working on the production of the album, connected the dots and missing links to present this project as concisely as Mac intended.

Mac’s musical progression since the start of his career has essentially been building up to this record. You can see the beginning of his transition from his 2015 record “GOOD:AM” where mac surprised fans with bringing out his inner singer alongside beautiful neo-soul instrumentals. To “the Devine Feminine” where Mac Completely shifts gear with a funky jazz and a theme of intimacy and love, with the least rap performances of any album he had put out yet.

This transition into a singer/ songwriter is seen very clearly in “Circles”. Pairing that with the executive production by John Bryan, a producer who has worked with artists like Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, and Elliott smith, it was clear before even listening that this would be the album where Mac deviates from just being a rapper, to becoming a full-on singer/ songwriter.

The record is a beautiful self-reflective journey, where Malcom seems as if he is commentating on his own life posthumously. The first lyric in the album captivates the listener at how self-aware he is; “Well, this is what it looks like, right before you fall”. The album is full of lines like these where it seems like Malcom was anticipating his passing. I would be lying if is said I didn’t shed a tear in my first listen. Being an avid Mac Miller fan since “GOOD:AM” this album was particularly special for me.

Like its first half, “Swimming”, this album also has a very gloomy theme in its production. On the contrary, the melodies and instrumentals seem oddly bright in this album compared to Swimming. Elements like muddy basslines, and muted guitar plucks dull down the bright melodies; giving out this ‘floaty’ feeling similar to his past 2 projects. The album explores themes such as isolation, loneliness and abandonment. You can hear these emotions in Mac’s often raspy vocal performances. Pairing that with spacy instrumentals such as the track “everybody”, where mac performs on a sad classical piano ballad. The Arthur Lee’s “everybody’s gotta live” cover delivers a very touching performance.

On the other hand, some other tracks on the record offer a more upbeat listen; a track like “complicated” where the zingy synth chords and the 4-step jumpy beat sound like a track out of Tyler the Creator’s “Flower Boy”, where it is bright and upbeat with smooth background bass melodies. Also, a track like “Blue World”, with its glitchy chorus on a simple 2-step kick and clap pattern.

Experiencing this album was an absolute pleasure, and it’s very sad to come to terms that this is as far as Mac’s music is going to progress. I think fans could not have expected a better musical sendoff than this album. A truly Heartfelt and sincere performance, Rest in peace Mac.

Abel Tesfaye’s 10 year musical journey, since the start of his recording career on YouTube in 2010, has been a very successful run for the multi award winning artist. From his first two mixtapes “house of balloons” and “echoes of Silence” to his five major studio albums following, Abel’s personal record have been displaying the development of the popstar’s character. Abel’s discography has massively helped in ushering the dark RnB/ Hip-hop genre into the mainstream. His records usually have a recurring theme of darkness and sadness that he presents in his personal songs about past heartbreaks and stories with partners, and his drug abuse problem. Apart from his 2016 record “Starboy” that took a more “Pop” approach to fit with his theme of self-awareness that he has become a mainstream pop sensation.

With his newest record since his 2018 project “My Dear Melancholy”, “After Hours” Brings a new chapter and development in Tesfaye’s life and career. coming out with a new edgy 80s Look in the cinematic teaser, the artist promises a change in his style as is with his persona. His three singles along with the cinematic trailers and short films promise a synth-wave themed 80s/ RnB mash-up. Sonically, the album definitely stands out to the rest of his discography with wide and heavy synth sounds inspired by the 80s’ new wave genre. On the other hand, lyrically, the album lives up to the persona Abel has been building up with his music in the past 10 years; a self-loathing villain popstar that has seen it all and now is trying to escape his majorly successful lifestyle.

In the record, Abel shares his story with fame and how it’s affecting his personality and turning him into more of a villain instead of helping him through his problems that he shared earlier in his career in his past projects. But this record seems to be a conclusion to this chapter in Abel’s life, in tracks like “Snowchild” and “Escape From LA”, the artist talks about his reasons for his now announced departure from living in Los Angeles. He described that living there has brought out the worst in him with how he is surrounded by people that promote his negative habits.

Setting the mood with his first track, “Alone Again”. From the song’s title, Abel seems to be commenting on his statues with his supermodel ex-girlfriend Bella Hadid. The track starts with very dark and heavily filtered bass arpeggios, alongside with Abel’s signature wet reverb vocals signals harmonizing with his vocals. the first third of the album on the other hand seem to drift apart this theme we were introduced to with the singles and the first track; “Too Late”, the second song on the album, starts with sounding like the typical Abel (especially “the beauty behind the madness” days) until the song takes an unexpected turn with the chorus. The song takes a synth-pop/ edm turn that personally feels out of place with the album.

The production on the album seems very diverse and almost too diverse. The common ground seems to be the synth sound being inspired by the 80s, but the drum beats shift across several genres that are not usually paired with one another on the same record. Some pop dance tracks like, “Hardest to Love”, “save your tears” and “in your eyes” which all have a very glimmering wound where Abel’s voice really shines in the track. Although sounding like upbeat tracks. The lyrics for these tracks are rather sad; similar to what you would expect from him.

The Record has a few slower paced tracks that resemble his other work that complement the theme. In “repeat after me”, Kevin Parker’s production creates this massive space that Abel beautifully fills with his voice in this interlude.

As for the Album’s singles, and in my opinion, the tracks that carry the whole record, they are easily one of The Weeknd’s enjoyable tracks. His vocal performance in “Blinding Lights” are very powerful and expressive. We see Abel resemble the Late popstar everyone compares him with, Michael Jackson. The track sounds like it came from a different era; in a great way. The mixture of genres in his singles collection for the album are very coherently enjoyable and refreshing as much as they are different.

Since the artist’s transition to the pop genre after his massive success in 2015 with “My Dear Melancholy”, his Records seem to have taken a turn to cater for the wider mainstream audience as his reach became huge with his tracks dominating radio stations. But out of all of his recent projects, “After Hours” personally feels the most enjoyable out of the bunch. Mainly due to the originality and uniqueness of the project being a refreshing breather from today’s crowded market filled with edm/ pop and other genres that are now considered overplayed.

Overall the artists’ most experimental project had a huge success, holding the umber 1 billboard spot for more than a month now since its release. It is safe to say that the reception to his 80s-dance themed record was very warmly welcomed by the public and has solidified its place as one of the more successful experimental projects in the recent years.

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Mac miller: Circles

The Weeknd: After Hours