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Ladders and Small Worlds

Considering that throughout this blog we have already analysed six songs off of into Mac Miller’s album Swimming, it is noticeable that despite having somewhat of a recurring theme, the album is very unique in the sense that every song sounds different and can still relate back to the main topic. That topic being Mac metaphorically swimming and keeping his head above the waters surrounding him. This blog will look at the 7th and 8th tracks from the album, Ladders and Small Worlds. These are two of the more popular singles off Swimming, with each amassing upwards of 100 million streams on Spotify alone. 

Ladders was released as one of the lead singles for Swimming prior to its drop in August 2018. One thing about Mac that was very clear was his obsession and passion for music, along with his determination on being a musician, and the best he can possibly be. Ladders is essentially based around his constant desire to improve and metaphorically climb as high as possible, in terms of music and life itself. Mac gained a huge following at a very young age from the songs he was making, which were about his life at the time he was leaving high school and partying, which remain popular today. He could easily have stuck with this style of music as he grew older but instead allowed for his music style to grow and mature with him, which he did a lot of during his short life. Swimming was the last body of work Mac Miller released before his passing, and compared to his earlier work, for example the mixtape K.I.D.S, there was a massive difference in style, which came with Mac growing as a person, and increases in musical ability. This is a perfect showcase of him climbing up the metaphorical ladder and increasingly improving on himself, musically and with his life in general.

Small Worlds is another of the more popular songs from Swimming. It was also released prior to the release of the rest of the album. Small Wolds came out in May 2018, as part of a smaller project along with a couple other songs that didn’t feature on Swimming. This release was Mac’s way of breaking his silence following his heavily publicised breakup with Ariana Grande and subsequent car crash which led to him getting arrested. Small Worlds is a song where Mac discusses his flaws and imperfections and it sounds as though he is having a conversation with himself. The opening line to the song is ‘The world is so small ‘til it ain’t’, which is Mac playing on the popular phrase when someone unexpectedly runs into something, comparing it to the music industry, while also showing his frustration when he states ‘…‘til it ain’t’. This shows us that in the music industry everyone seems to know each other, and bumps into one another. However, despite having lots of contacts and all of his success, Mac feels like he doesn’t really know anyone for real, and struggles with this feeling.

Another notable couple of lines from Small Worlds where Mac visibly vents his frustration and opens up is ‘I know I probably need to do better/Keep my shit together/ You never told me being rich was so lonely/Nobody know me/Oh well, hard to complain from this five star hotel’ It is not much of a surprise that Mac felt this way at the time he made this song, considering the multiple factors that were going on in his life and bringing him down. Ariana made a statement which stated that she tried her best to maintain her relationship with Mac, but due to his problems with alcohol and drugs, she said he was unable to ‘keep his shit together’, so this can be a play on words towards that. The rest of these lines also further back up the fact that Mac was unhappy with the feeling of having all this success and no real contacts or people that he can class as close contacts or friends, however he says that it’s hard for him to be complaining about his situation, given that people within the general public will assume he has the best life possible because of his fame, money, and success. In 2015, Mac spoke in an interview with Larry King about how having to adapt to fame at such a young age is what led him to drug use and depression, so this once again further backs up the point he’s making throughout this song.


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