By JONAS MILLER
Features Editor
Malcom McCormick, known by his stage name, Mac Miller, released his third studio album on Friday, titled “GO:OD AM.”
After Miller’s second EP, “Blue Slide Park,” topped the Billboard charts in 2011, fans have long awaited another major release from the Pittsburgh native.
Four years later, there is a noticeable change in Miller’s style as he continues to struggle with drug use and depression in his new project. In 2014, Miller released a self-made mix tape titled “Faces,” which he described as “super depressing” in a recent interview with Billboard magazine.
“Making music when you’re depressed is great therapy, but I wanted this album to be in a different headspace,” Miller said in the same interview.
In the past, he has made his money with upbeat, tongue-twisting raps such as “Knock Knock” and “Donald Trump,” but in this album there is a slower, more laid-back feel to most of the songs.
Listening through the album, you can certainly get a sense of the “old Mac” in songs like “100 Grand Kids” and “Cut the Check,” which features the ever-rambunctious Chief Keef.
The albums identity is cultivated in the ninth track, “Perfect Circle/God Speed,” which shows Miller reflecting on his decisions in life up to this point. While he questions his drug use, and what money has done to him at such a young age, we really get a sense of the internal struggle Miller is dealing with.
When asked how his life is different now compared to how it’s been for the last few years, Miller responded by explaining that he’s doing his best to “live a little bit more.”
“I was too worried about the legacy I would leave behind,” Miller said.
In “Perfect Circle/God Speed,” around the sixth minute, Miller sings “I’m too obsessed with goin’ down as a great one.” Although he has already made quite a name for himself, Miller knows that he has to do more to truly leave his mark on the music world.
“I’ve got to make sure I make all this music, so when I die there’s albums and albums,” Miller said.
At 23, Miller has many years of music ahead of him, and having just signed a new contract with Warner Bros. worth a reported $10 million, his future is looking bright.
