One listen through Mac Miller‘s final album Circles reveals the obvious— the record is the furthest thing from the archetypal hip-hop LP. Its a vibrant collection of crisp live instrumentation, synthesized vocals, surf rock-inspired riffs, dreary rhyme schemes, and buzzing electronic backdrops. Circles comes wrapped in vulnerability, making for a hazy, bittersweet slow-burn that respectfully provides closure to Mac’s legacy. While the posthumous musical mosaic comes together as a colorful patchwork of different sonics, most of the album was completed by producer Jon Brion, who was working with Miller at the time of his death. However, one of the LP’s standouts, “Blue World,” a buzzing, future bass-inspired cut, bears a familiar name to dance fans—Guy Lawrence, one half of Disclosure.
Like so much of Mac’s music, the meaning of this song has changed so much for me since his passing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it with such a sweet, kind & talented man.
Rest in peace Mac,Guy 🙏🏼🌎🙏🏼https://t.co/N8aFPKdL56
— Disclosure (@disclosure) January 20, 2020
Disclosure are no strangers to stepping outside of electronic dance music to expand their diverse catalog of production credits, most recently linking with Khalid for 2019’s inescapable chart-topper, “Talk.” Lawrence stands out as one of the few names that contributed to Miller’s featureless final offering, and similarly, “Blue World,” stands out as one of the album’s best examples of Miller’s style-morphing creative hopscotch.