Mac Miller was a rapper born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his song The Spins off of K.I.D.S, Mac’s first mixtape released in 2010. He was an amazing rapper and lyricist that unfortunately overdosed and died on September 7th, 2018. Only one month after he released Swimming. Circles is Mac Miller’s first posthumous album that was meant to coincide with Swimming. A compilation was released in 2020 with both of the album’s songs, Swimming in Circles. It is unclear how far Mac Miller got on writing this album while he was alive, but his producer, Jon Brion finished the album for him. Mac Miller has hundreds of unreleased songs and his estate seems to release a new album of them every few years. Mac Miller’s second posthumous album, Balloonerism was released in early 2025, but was recorded in 2014 during Miller’s release of Faces, my second favorite Mac Miller album. Circles, I have not listened to much, but I do enjoy it and will be reviewing it today. I will be rating the songs 1-10 and I will also be analyzing the lyrics.
The album itself has an overall comforting and soft feel to it. The songs flow together nicely and every song after another fades into each other beautifully. It is definitely an album you would put on to write a paper, clean the house or to drive at night. The album came out in January 2020, but I didn’t listen to it until late 2025.
The first song, “Circles”, was written entirely by Miller. In many of Mac Miller’s songs, he alludes to his own death. Even writing a song called Funeral off of his 2014 album Faces with an opening line “This music go at my funeral, yeah yeah” In Circles, Mac writes as though he is stumbling into his addiction again. Mac had done drugs since his high school years and publicly wrote that he has struggled with sobriety. “And I cannot be changed, I cannot be changed, no Trust me I’ve tried, I just end up at the start of the line, Drawin’ circles” These lyrics represent his cycles of addiction with drugs. With hard times, he falls back on drugs as though he cannot break the cycle. I give this song a 9.5/10, it is in my top three off of the album and is in my favorite songs playlist. I enjoy the bass parts to it because if you play it on car speakers really loud, it shakes the car. I cannot relate to his drug addiction but I do love the poetic aspect of it. It can be interpreted to any hard situation.
The second song, “Complicated”, is a more upbeat song with a funky rhythm. It feels upbeat but the lyrics say otherwise. Mac Miller is stressed about his relationships and feels that they are too complicated. He feels as though he is too young to be dealing with these complications and is frustrated with it. He feels guilt for the mess he’s made, likely in a relationship. If this was written in 2014, this song is about his high school sweetheart, Nomi Leasure. They had a complicated, on and off relationship due to Mac’s fame and addictions. I give this song an 8/10 because I enjoy the instrumental, but the lyrics aren’t as great as his other songs.
The third song, “Blue World”, is my favorite song off of the album. The intro of the song is sampled off of It’s a Blue World by The Four Freshman. It has a jazzy feel and is beautiful. The lyrics make a subtle hint to his ex-girlfriend, Ariana Grande. In other Mac Miller songs, he references Ariana as “the color blue”. Such as in “Congratulations” off of my favorite album The Divine Feminine, “And you too divine, to just be mine, you remind me of the color blue.” He references this lyric again in Blue World by rapping “Without you it’s the color blue” in the first verse. I tend to put this on while I am driving or studying. It’s a beautiful, heartfelt song. I give this song a 10/10 and it is definitely in my top 100 of all my favorite songs.
The fourth song is “Good News.” This song was leaked online in 2019, so many have heard it before it came out. Although Mac Miller passed away due to an accidental overdose, many interpret this song as his suicide note. I don’t agree with this because Mac wanted to live and it is evident through many different lyrics he wrote. He alluded to his own death in many of his songs because he intended to push boundaries and help people who may be suicidal to relate to his lyrics. In this song, Mac feels disappointed in himself, probably with his sobriety, that he has no “good news” to give anyone. I give this song a 10/10 and it is in my top 100 of all songs.
The fifth song is “I Can See”. The producer, Jon Brion, had some heartfelt words to share about the song. “… He was already self-aware and was unafraid of expressing it. But beyond that lyrical wonder of honesty, the melody just made me cry.” This song includes uncredited background vocals from Ariana Grande. I give this song an 8/10 because it sounds otherworldly in some parts, but it doesn’t really stick out to me.
The sixth song is “Everybody”. This song is inspired by an Arthur Lee song from 1972. I enjoy the instrumental the most because it is the most toned down and sort of sounds like something you would hear in a coffee shop. The lyrics don’t stick out as much as his other songs because it is a short song with repetitive lyrics. It’s a very somber song about the realization that everybody dies. It’s very uncomfortable to think about how one day everyone you know will be dead and this song addresses that feeling. I give this song a 7/10 because it doesn’t stick out to me lyrically, but I enjoy the instrumental.
The seventh song is “Woods”. This is the last song that E. Dan (another producer) and Mac worked on before he passed away. Knowing that fact when listening to the song, gives it a whole new meaning. The song was originally meant to be on Swimming and it definitely sounds more like a song off of that album rather than off of Circles. The lyrics detail a relationship that cannot be saved. In many of his songs he alludes to the fact that things get better as time goes on. Woods is one of those songs. The phrase, “out of the woods” alludes to the fact that the worst is over from the relationship and that better things are coming. He uses a similar lyric in Rick’s Piano off of Balloonerism, “The best is yet to come”. Likely, these songs were recorded at the same time because they have familiar themes. I give this song a 9/10 because it is truly an amazing song with such a deep, relatable message.
The eighth song is “Hand Me Downs”, I know I say I have a lot of favorites, but this is also one of them. My favorite part of this song is the featured singer, Baro. He sings the chorus while Mac sings everything else. I enjoy many artists’ collaborations with Mac, they add a great element to the song that Mac couldn’t have done without. On Genius, the website I use to look at lyrics, one collaborator made an annotation that almost made me cry. On the lyric “I made it, but I hate once I build it I break it” The author of the annotation said “This line sums up Circles in a nutshell. Mac’s self-destructive nature of constantly building and then breaking is what completes the circle he is swimming in.” Alluding to Swimming In Circles. After reading that annotation, it gives the song a whole new emotional meaning to it. I give this song a 10/10 in lyricism and the overall emotional feeling to it is so moving.
The ninth song is “That’s On Me”. In this song, Mac seems to be taking accountability for his mental health. Another take on the song claims that he is consoling fans grief for when he dies. He always knew he would die young, he just didn’t know how. Mac also plays guitar on this song in addition to singing. I give this song a 7/10 because it’s too repetitive and short but very moving.
The tenth song is “Hands” and is the only traditional rap song on the album. It is also the least streamed off of the album with about 60 million streams. This song may have been cut from his 2014 album, Faces, because it has similar attributes to that album. Jon Brion claims that he was influenced by rapper, Dr. Dre. Although, I don’t see where he comes into this song. This song’s lyrics are about his drug addiction and his anxiety. I relate to this song because I have anxiety disorder. My favorite lyric is “I’m busy trippin’ about some shit that still ain’t even happened yet” I do this a lot and I hate it. I give this song an 8/10 because of the relatability, but it just doesn’t stick out.
The eleventh song, “Surf”, is about his mental health issues and low self esteem. It can also be interpreted as a journey through acceptance and forgiveness in relationships. Not much is known about this song, but it is possibly about his ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande. The overall feel to the song has mixed feelings to it, sort of somber. I give this song a 6/10 because it also doesn’t stick out to me and I can’t really relate to it.
The final and twelfth song is “Once a Day”. This song was found on his phone after his death. It was displayed at his funeral for his guests to listen to. Then, the video was leaked online in 2019, a common theme with this album. My favorite lyrics are “Don’t keep it all in your head, The only place you know nobody can ever see, you’re running low on regret, no tears, that’s keeping you wet, I think you gettin’ it now” I really like these because Mac is making a point that if you keep everything all to yourself, the regret of never getting help will pile up. I give this song a 9/10 because the message is beautiful.
Overall, this album gets 8.5/10. Mac’s first of many posthumous albums are beautiful and I hope that many more come out soon. I recommend listening to this album when studying or when taking a long drive. You will be drawn into Circle’s beauty. If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction, suicidal thoughts and depression, please call 988 and know you are not alone.
