4 | living arts
The Scarlet
Mac Miller’s Circles Proves that Posthumous Releases Don’t Have to be a Cash Grab
Image courtesy of Matt Rushford
Matt Rushford Contributing Writer For many who grew up through the 2010s, Mac Miller’s creative growth from a Pittsburgh pop rapper to an experimental musician testing abstract hip-hop and live instrumentation signified that artists willing to work outside of the box are often met with greater fanfare and recognition than those who don’t. Miller’s long-term fight with addiction resonated with audiences and his death from an accidental overdose in 2018 was a hard hit for fans. Lyrically, Miller has some of the strongest of his whole career on “Circles.” Contrasting with his other works, this album, at its core, is not a rap album, with Miller primarily singing and even reaching spoken word at points. Miller brings a blunt honesty to all the tracks, at times pessimistic about the world around us. At other points he allows for slight optimism, such as on “Good News” where he talks about the need for silver linings as a way to avoid some of the darkness around us. Miller’s family acknowledged the difficulty of releasing a project following an artist’s death in a statement given prior to the release of “Circles,” Miller’s first project released after his death.
“This is a complicated process that has no right answer,” said Miller’s family. “We simply know that it was important to Malcolm for the world to hear it.” “Circles” was created as a companion album to his final release, “Swimming,” and Miller’s bittersweet energy pulses through the entire project, giving listeners an honest and introspective view of his last few months. In the rap community in recent years, artists’ deaths have become tragically common. Besides Miller, rappers Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice WRLD all died unexpectedly in recent years. Like all genres in which noted artists pass away, the release of posthumous musical projects following their death always comes with great difficulty and is often met with a mix of praise and criticism. A prime example of music being poorly released after the death of an artist is the chaotic releases of controversial rapper XXXTentacion’s two posthumous albums “Skins” and “Bad Vibes Forever.” Both of these albums have been criticized for being sloppy and unfinished products that were pushed into being released by XXXTentacion’s mother. Much of the credit for the success of this project should be given
to co-producer Jon Brion, who has previously worked with artists ranging from Fiona Apple and Elliott Smith. He collaborated with Kanye West on his albums “Late Registration” and “Graduation” and with Janelle Monae on her latest album, “Dirty Computer.” Brion and Miller crafted simple, yet effective backgrounds which pick up and develop into beautiful melodies. This helps set the mood for the entire album properly. “Circles” is different from many other posthumous projects in that it gives off a feeling of being fleshed out stylistically, as if it were what the final product would have sounded like. While we can’t know what it would have sounded like if Miller were alive to finish the product, Brion did an incredible job of preserving Miller’s artistic intent, thus creating a very satisfying experience for listeners and fans. For those looking for a final stage of Mac Miller’s evolution, “Circles” is bound to be a satisfying conclusion.
jan. 31, 2020
OSCARS CONTINUED FROM PG. 3
greater detail for the Scarlet back in October, actually did receive one nomination for sound mixing. While the film undeniably features an engrossing soundscape, director James Gray’s emotional tale of discovering the deepest parts of oneself at the edge of our solar system is deserving of much more. Brad Pitt has been nominated for his role as Cliff Booth in “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,” but his subtle, emotionally isolated turn as Roy McBride in “Ad Astra” -- a far cry from the gregarious, hotheaded Booth -- is equally powerful, and shows Pitt’s range. While “Ad Astra” was one of the year’s best; its lack of nominations may be chalked up to multiple factors. While well-received by critics, it faced a lukewarm audience reception, likely due to expectations for an action-packed space adventure rather than a slow, moody drama. Director James Gray, while a known name, also lacks the instant recognition of competitors like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. Beyond this, “Ad Astra”’s September release date may have simply been too early, as it was overshadowed by later released in the minds of voters. Given the success of director Jordan Peele’s previous film, 2017’s “Get Out,” his ambitious follow-up, “Us,” seemed like a likely contender for this year’s Oscars, but ended up with nary a single nomination. “Us,” the story of a family’s attempts to evade death at the hands of mysterious doppelgangers, packed in thrills alongside high-minded, thoughtprovoking social commentary. At the film’s center is Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o turning in a stunning dual performance as both the meek, traumatized Adelaide Wilson and her sinister, commanding double, Red. The Academy’s complete snub of “Us” must be viewed in the context of its larger problems with race. The voting membership of the Academy, despite diversity efforts in recent years, is still 84% Caucasian, and was, for many years, even less diverse. This makeup is reflected in the Oscar’s treatment of filmmakers of color, particularly their frequent overlooking of films featuring black
talent that aren’t about racial topics, such as the Civil Rights movement or the horrors of slavery. It’s all too plausible that the Academy would be fine with awarding Nyong’o for playing an enslaved woman in “12 Years a Slave,” but not a modern-day horror heroine in “Us.” Or that they awarded Peele for his explicit racial allegory in “Get Out,” but won’t for his new film’s economic culture critique. “The Farewell,” Lulu Wang’s touching familial drama, was another apparent victim of the Academy’s racial insensitivity. The film, which stars Awkwafina, navigates familial dynamics and cultural tensions. It tells the reallife story of a family who stage a wedding in order to bring together their relatives to see off their terminally ill grandmother, who is unaware of her condition. Such a film would be an Oscars favorite had it featured white protagonists, but its centering of a Chinese family, and Wang’s choice to have the majority of the dialogue be in Mandarin likely rendered it too “foreign” for the Academy. Wang’s delicate direction brings out touching, nuanced performances from its ensemble. Awkwafina, previously known for her comedic work, shows great versatility in an understated, but emotional performance as Billi. Tzi Ma displays great depth and inner conflict as Billi’s father, Haiyan, and the breakout star of “The Farewell” may very well be Zhao Shuzhen, whose portrayal of Nai Nai serves as the film’s emotional center. Ultimately, an underlying theme of all these snubbed films is that they are all from less established filmmakers. “Booksmart” was Olivia Wilde’s first film, “Us” and “The Farewell” are sophomore efforts, and while James Gray and the Safdie brothers are more prolific, they remain less familiar names to the Academy. While these five excellent films going overlooked is frustrating, the realization that the creatives behind them, with any luck, have many years of work ahead remains a silver lining. For next week’s Oscar on the Oscars: a look at the films that actually were nominated.