Album review: Mac Miller, Swimming

NZ Herald·

9 Aug, 2018 01:00 AM2 mins to read

Swimming is Mac Miller's take on a breakup album, following his split from singer Ariana Grande. Photo / Getty Images

Fresh off the back of a hugely-publicised break-up and a resulting DUI arrest, Mac Miller is done with games.

On his new album, he gets more real than ever as he chronicles his split from Ariana Grande. While it's safe to say he did not handle it well, things are on the up.

Sonically, Swimming is surprisingly beautiful. There are funky, Anderson .Paak-esque grooves, more singing and spoken word musings than rapping, and it mixes hard hip-hop beats with atmospheric, cinematic production.

Lyrically, it's a break-up album in the traditional singer/songwriter sense, tracking Miller's journey from devastation and self-loathing through self-medication and faking it until he finally makes it out the other side.

But it's not just about Grande, it's also about his career - now that he's being honest and dropping the pretence and braggadocio, his music is better than it's ever been.

On Perfect, he talks about how Grande "put me back together when I'm out of order" and why their relationship stopped working on Dunno. On Self Care, he gets real about seeking "oblivion", before later finding hope and fronting up to his own issues on Wings and Conversation Pt 1.

He rejects the braggadocio of hip-hop culture and eventually even rejects his own self-deprecation, on which he's built a career. It's probably no coincidence that all the swagger of Jet Fuel runs into 2009, the first line of which is: "I can't lie no more."

"Nowadays all I do is shine, take a breath and ease my mind / And she don't cry no more...I ain't askin' 'why?' no more / Oh no, I take it if it's mine, I don't stay inside the lines / It ain't 2009 no more / I know what's behind that door", he raps.

The album does feel like it's missing something which could tip it over into greatness, but it stands firmly enough without it as an exercise in self-discovery, which is rare in this genre.

Mac Miller seems to have finally learned that life isn't all sink or swim. Sometimes it's enough just to stay afloat and enjoy the view - and that's exactly how this album feels.