Swimming in His Own Thoughts: A Mac Miller Review

Swimming by Mac Miller is Miller’s 5th studio album and the last one to be released before his death. In this thirteen song album, Miller dives into themes of mental health and psychological growth. Swimming can be seen as more than just an album in Miller’s discography, but another chapter in his story of life.

Prior to the release of Swimming, Miller was in a serious relationship with celebrity Ariana Grande. As a result of the breakup between the two, Miller devoted himself to music and expressing himself through it. The result of his focus on music was his project Swimming.

Swimming is a diverse album where Mac Miller shows his versatility to make a good song under different circumstances. One part in creating a diverse album is the beats that are used. Miller uses beats of varying speeds to evoke different emotions throughout his music, keeping listeners engaged throughout the album. An example of one of the more upbeat songs is “Ladders” due to its more exciting beat and his faster singing. An example of one of the slower songs is “2009” because of Miller’s leisurely and soft singing. The difference between the two songs helps illustrate the diversity of this album, making this project so engaging for the audience. Compared to his prior albums, Mac Miller has gotten away from strictly rapping and has integrated some meaningful, lyrical singing in his albums.

When Miller released Swimming, listeners instantly realized a change. Miller had gone from singing about love and the emotions in a relationship to now singing about mental healing and dealing with a breakup. The lyrics all began to come together and Miller was no longer rapping without purpose, but he was telling a story. In his first song of the album, “Come Back to Earth”, Miller sang “I just need a way out of my head/ I’ll do anything for a way out/ Of my head” (Lines 4-6). This lyric brings up one of Miller’s themes about mental healing as he sings about being stuck inside his own head.

Along with his themes of psychological growth and mental healing, Mac Miller is also obviously heartbroken due to his breakup. “She put me back together when I'm out of order/ Perfect.” (Lines 66-67) Miller sang in “Perfecto”. This lyric adds to the emotional appeal because it adds a relatable, human element to his music. Sometimes celebrities' feelings can be overlooked and ignored but Mac Miller’s recognition of his own feelings allow the listener to sympathize for him, making his album even more enthralling.

Swimming is definitely worth a listen for anyone with some time to spare.