Mac takes life experiences specifically, with past partners, as he reflects growth through different themes, like the meaning of a soulmate and the moods that snap amid an argument. Despite being personal, The Divine Feminine digs into a different sector to deliver common perspectives in a slightly uncanny fashion. Swimming and Circles levied the personable nature, which has given Mac ease with writing intricate rhymes and keeping a consistency. However, what surrounds these songs are some of Mac Miller’s most focused work. From there, it starts to lose some importance within the overall concept. Its placement feels slightly forced, as Mac makes this song specifically about sex, similar to “Skin,” which goes from an endearing love fable to implementing crude lyrics. There are songs like “Skin” and “Planet God Damn,” where the former is the one that isn’t good and the latter, which is enjoyable if you’re into crass and dirty rap. With The Divine Feminine, Mac Miller found something rooted within and explored it with the utmost detail, despite a few songs failing to reach the high point others hit. “Soulmate” sees Mac quantifying the meaning of the word over these triumphant horns on the production, representing the angelic glow he places on his significant other. “Congratulations” represents the sentiment from memories that back her divine nature, according to Mac. With a clear mindset, Mac relays over his mistakes and the virtues of patience and love through songs like “Congratulations,” “My Favorite Part,” and “Soulmate,” where Mac finds himself feeling engulfed by many thoughts that fluster his mind. The Divine Feminine has simple and complex situations that may occur in relationships with depth and relatability. It’s his first fully-fleshed out concept album, as he looks at a modern relationship, specifically, that of two people whose love burns more than the outer layers suggest. Good A:M saw Mac being more experimental with production, song construction, and overall concept. Unlike Mac Miller’s projects at the time, ambition for him came in the form of song construction since he maintained leveled hip-hop patterns throughout the first half of the decade. Mac isn’t new to singing, but he put it on the back burner since it wasn’t one of his strengths. Whether we are listening to his darkened thoughts, clogged in the back of his mind like on “Grand Finale” off his Faces, or remedy an argument like on “We” off The Divine Feminine, we’re left in awe by how personable he can be. But like his storytelling skills, Mac lets his voice express vulnerability since it allows for more emotional range than rapping. Mac Miller is a standard falsetto without much range in pitch, with his voice only going deeper. It speaks to the vulnerability, as it is a standard for love ballads, which in turn mirrors the vulnerability we hear from his singing. He has been able to create cohesive and intricate music, as his focus remained on sonic motifs - Macadellic had psychedelic overtones, K.I.D.S had boom-bap made by weed smokers, and The Divine Feminine has whimsical piano keys. And Mac is privy to this, as he didn’t dabble with production until later in his career. For an artist, it is sometimes hard to create unison between sound motifs when using different producers as their input is varied on their strengths. Mac Miller has always been a gifted musician however, after Watching Movies With The Sound Off, Mac Miller would shift almost all the production to others. To this day, I still firmly believe it, despite knowing that Mac had something better lying dormant in the crevices of his mind that we will never get to hear. I remember when I first heard The Divine Feminine - immediately, I galavanted about proclaiming this as Mac’s opus as an artist. The five years since haven’t felt like five years. For Mac Miller, The Divine Feminine is the latter. Like I’ve mentioned previously, I’m someone who holds superlatives at a low - save for the few - some astound me from the length since original release or the feeling of time in-between. There aren’t many rappers who immediately jump to me to listen to their work within minutes of release - Kanye, Common, and Mac Miller, are, and were, some of the very few I have a watchful ear.
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