Mac Miller The Divine Feminine
Released: September 15th, 2016
Must Listen: “Stay”
Mac Miller’s career has been one that has seen a lot of twists and turns and he’s done a lot of different things. After doing great on the mixtape circuit he dropped an album that fans didn’t sit with to well, and he fell into a state of depression. The next album was bigger and better, and the Pittsburgh native was poised to keep it going. He did that, and with each album he got better at what he was doing.
Out of all his projects, it’s safe to say The Divine Feminine is like none of them. He went completely left field, and he shelved his usual rap topics for songs about love and women. He told Complex before the album dropped that it was an album filled with love songs, and he didn’t lie. Many believe his new relationship with Ariana Grande inspired this, and if that’s the case she’s one hell of a woman.
For 10 songs, Mac weaves in and out of tales of love and what love is doing to him. It’s making him happy, it’s making him a better person, it’s keeping him off drugs, and that’s beautiful. He brings out a few great guest spots to compliment him with the likes of Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign, Cee-Lo and Kendrick Lamar all featuring. We can’t forget about Ariana either, who has her fingerprints all over the album (you know you heard her doing backup vocals). The song she actually features on and the obvious influence she has on the 24-year old rapper.
He also blends the Jazz/Rap genre together perfectly on songs like “Stay” or “Skin,” which features some great trumpet work while Mac compares women to art in some extremely witty ways. Pianist Robert Glasper, the great Thundercat and trumpeter Keyon Harrold all contribute their collective art to Mac to bring together a beautiful sound.
Only 10 songs long, The Devine Feminine is Mac’s shortest album, but makes it his most concise and clean listen. There are no filler tracks, none that don’t belong, just enough to get his point across. That’s all we needed from him, and that’s why this is one of the better albums to drop this month/year.