On January 8th, 2020 Mac Miller’s estate announced his first posthumous album titled Circles set to release this Friday, January 17th. The following day, a track from the album titled “Good News” was released. The album was intended to be a companion to his 2018 album Swimming released a month prior to his untimely September passing. “Good News” is a very intimate account of Mac’s final days.
Produced by Mac and Jon Brion, the instrumental is very soft and compliments the sleepiness of Mac’s singing. The lyrics are what make the song hit so hard.
He leaves little room for interpretation with the poignancy in the lyrics. Lines like “I’m running out of gas, hardly anything left/Hope I make it home from work well/I’m so tired of being so tired” lets you know that Mac was not well in his last days.
One regularity here is his signature confrontation of personal issues through his music. In the second half of the track “Perfect Circle/God Speed” from 2015’s GO:OD AM, Mac foresees his future by predicting an overdose.
The part that is most saddening is that we as listeners see these as just sad songs, without truly taking the artist in to account. It was difficult upon the first listen but overall, “Good News” is a good track. Will you be tuning in to Mac Miller’s new posthumous record?