Two days before the birthday of the late Mac Miller, a beautiful 49-minute lap of honour fell from heaven. Malcolm pours his heart out upon a delicate instrumental during the opening moments of this project – only the start of the heartstring tugging.

Circles was mostly finished before the rapper’s passing but composer, session player and friend of Mac, Jon Brion, was left to put the finishing touches on the project. Jon and Malcolm had extensively worked together throughout the production of Swimming creating Circles in its wake. The rapper planned to tour Swimming before coming back to perfect Circles and release it to the world. Due to his unfortunate demise, it is only fitting that Jon helped deliver Malcolm’s vision.

Brion told Vulture Magazine that he was trying to change the album as little as possible. The only time he added or changed parts of songs, was to achieve the vision Mac had expressed to him prior to his death. This lovingly respectful approach to finishing an artist’s posthumous album is one that anyone doing such a job should take. Historically, artists have been exploited after their death – XXXTentacion being the most obvious contemporary example. Circles, however, is a happy anomaly.

I was trying to figure out the way to change it as little as possible

– Jon Brion to Vulture Magazine

After the intimate opener, listeners are led into track after track packed with self-aware and personal lyricism. Brion has done a magnificent job ensuring that the rapper’s voice is put on a pedestal throughout this project. Making for a gut-wrenching listen for fans.

The track Blue World instantly sweeps you off your feet with a soulful sample from The Four Freshmen, which soon morphs into a head-bopping track that you just can’t help but dance to. The melancholic strings throughout Hand Me Downs fills you with a rich sense of nostalgia of a time when Mac was still here. That’s On Me soon follows with a heart-wrenching chorus that echoes through your head while the rapper takes accountability for all the bad he’s done.

That’s on me, that’s on me, I know

That’s on me, that’s on me, it’s all my fault

– That’s On Me by Mac Miller

Despite all this, the album is not perfect. The looping sample throughout Hands is irritating, making an otherwise great song a lot less enjoyable. Woods is fairly one dimensional and boring sonically ruining the interesting lyrical content of the track. The closer of the album, Once A Day, ends pretty unexpectedly, not leaving listeners wanting more but rather making them check their phone to see if they paused the song. It feels like a missed opportunity for a sentimental end to Mac’s last album.

The final chapter of Mac’s discography allowed the listener to dive deep into his psyche while he pushed his musical abilities further than ever before.

The final chapter of Mac’s discography pushed his musical abilities further than ever before, all while allowing listeners to dive deep into his mind. This only leaves fans and critics to ponder what he could have achieved given more time.