Skip to main content

Swimming by Mac Miller

From as long as I can remember, music has always played a big role and been a big part of my life. The radio in my house’s kitchen was constantly playing since I was no age, and my entire family have always been interested in music. I suppose it only makes sense that I’ve had such a fondness of it myself ever since. One thing that I always was fascinated by was hip hop and rap music, and ever since I was about 10 or 11 I’ve been discovering new styles and artists from that genre in particular. Around 2017 I discovered Mac Miller through YouTube rabbit holes and instantly became a fan. I found that I was able to relate to Mac’s music, as well as him as a person.

In August 2018, Mac Miller released Swimming, which unfortunately turned out to be his final release before his sad passing the following month. I remember my first listen to it on its release and being blown away, it instantly became one of my favourite pieces of music, and to this day it remains that way.

Swimming begins with the now appropriately titled Come Back to Earth’ where Mac cleverly uses metaphors to speak about the ongoing issues and battles in his life. I feel as though this track sets the tone almost perfectly for the rest of the album. At the time of this release, it was common knowledge that Miller had an ongoing battle with substance abuse, and many other personal issues seemed to be piling up within his life which he was struggling with. One particular line used in this song relates to this, as well as being tied in with the album title, ‘I was drowning but now I’m swimming/through stressful waters to relief’. Personally I took these lines as a sigh of relief, in that Mac had overcame his battles and was no longer in a bad place and could begin to go back to being the happy and loud character he once was. Throughout the song itself, Mac is expressing his desire and struggle to find self-acceptance while going through a very rough episode of his life. Mac had previously spoke about how he wanted to find a balance of his emotions as opposed being solely being happy or sad, so this line could perhaps also be a reflection of his emotion in relation to that.                                                                        

The second song off the album is titled Hurt Feelings. Instantly you can tell it has a more upbeat energy around it, setting the mood for how the song is to be interpreted. He speaks about how he is growing as a person and is developing rather than remaining the same person he’s always been, he acknowledges the fact that he has chosen to move on and accept the person he has now become. The song is titled Hurt Feelings as he says he hopes that his decision to change as a person hasn’t insulted anyone. ‘I’m always saying I won’t change but/I ain’t the same’ is the opening line to this song, signifying that Mac has always said he wouldn’t change who he was as a person as he continues to get more famous and successful, and wouldn’t let it get to his head, but more recently, he’s discovered that he is now a different person to what he was before the fame. Obviously, the more popular Mac’s music became meant that he would be gaining a lot of attention from the media and public, as well as money and fame. He highlights the fact that he can’t complain about the situation his life is in, as he is incredibly successful and rich, however he also accepts the fact that he is no longer just normal Malcom McCormick from Pittsburgh.

Thank you for taking the time to read. As this blog is continued, I will discuss further into Swimming, with an in depth description of every song. To keep up to date with posts to this blog, you can follow my Instagram account, @swimmingbyshane, where I will be notifying my followers about recent posts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Self Care and Wings

Further into Swimming, we discover more information on not only the current situation of Mac’s life, but more about his feelings and emotions at the time surround the making of the album. The fifth track on Swimming is called Self Care , and is the lead single from the album. Since it’s release, it has amassed over 380 million streams on Spotify alone. It does become evident as to why Self Care is so popular from its first listen, as it can be classed into numerous genres, which all suit Mac’s general fanbase, as well as having that ever-present, yet unique touch that only he could provide to a song. Self Care begins with an intriguing intro, initially leaving you wondering what direction the song is going to. It leads into the beat dropping for the first time and diving straight into the chorus and in the first verse is where we hear a clever use of wording once again, ‘ Swear the height be too tall/So like September I fall ’. So initially, Mac is talking about trying to climb over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dunno

The tenth track from Swimming , which is one of my personal favourites, is titled Dunno . It has such a laid back and relaxing feel to it, it’s just one of those songs where you can put on at any time and instantly feel like you’re travelling through another dimension, where everything is perfect. Personally, in any situation where I feel overwhelmed with stress or anxiety, I listen to Swimming as a whole, but this track is my absolute go-to to calm me down, and not once has it served me wrong. Despite the feeling and endorphins that the music gives to the listener, the lyrics of Dunno are actually quite saddening, and the song is widely considered to be largely dedicated to Ariana Grande. Other songs on the record are often cryptic, leaving listeners and fans in the dark and wondering who the lyrics are about, whereas on Dunno, it’s made quite clear that Mac has wrote it about Ariana. Mac is reminiscent of times where she was around, and he was care-free of what was going on in the wo...
Post a Comment
Read more