Dissect - S9E18 - Finale: Swimming In Circles

Episode Date: March 1, 2022

We conclude our season-long analysis of Mac Miller’s Swimming In Circles. We examine the albums’ artwork, discuss its most prominent thematic motifs, and draw some final conclusions about Mac’s parting musical statement. Then we hear from Dissect listeners around the world sharing their biggest takeaways from the albums. Follow Dissect on Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everything ends, but what do endings even mean? From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushna and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. Today we conclude our serialized examination of MacMiller's swimming in circles. Over the course of this season, we've followed MacMiller as he's traversed across various emotional terrains throughout his journey on swimming in circles. He's been sky high in the clouds, exhausted on the road, and treading water in the middle of the ocean. He's been up, he's been down, energized and drained, joyous and regretful. Throughout his constant oscillations, he came to find peace in each,

accepting that one cannot exist without the other, harmonizing with the complementary balance of the universe. And having now reached the end of Mack's final works, it's time we take a broader look at swimming in circles and draw some overarching conclusions. We'll start by examining the album artworks, look at various ways Mac connected these works, and finally we'll get to hear directly from you,

dissect listeners, sharing your thoughts and feelings about swimming in circles. And so, for the final time this season, let's dissect. My regrets look just like Texas should in sand. And I got neighbors than more like strangers we could be. As we've noted throughout this season, swimming feels like the culmination of Mack's entire musical career, perhaps most potently coalesced in the album's penultimate track, 2009. Mack created a work that evoked the complete being of him, his path, and his life.

As such, the cover for Swimming appears to include or allude to the covers of each of his six studio albums. Photographed by Christian Weber, Swimming's cover art finds Mack wearing a pink salmon-colored suit, sitting barefoot at the bottom of a tall, rectangular box, a small airplane window above him, revealing white clouds against a blue sky outside. The central vertical rectangle has the same placement as the vertical blue rectangle on the cover of Mack's debut studio album Blue Slide Park. On this cover, the vertical blue rectangle stands in for the Pittsburgh Park's iconic slide and also appears to be a waterfall. Turns out the inspiration for the cover was an 8-year-old's cram drawing. Mack would later explain to MTV News, quote,

Basically, the point is making something simple that can represent the whole idea. You look at it and it doesn't look like a park, but you know that's that blue slide park, unquote. From the start of his career, it appears this idea of using simple symbolism to allow for exploration would guide the design of Mack's cover's his entire career. Turning to Mack's next studio album, we observe how Mack's position on Swimming's cover, sitting down facing the camera, looks very similar to his seated position

on the cover of 2013's watching movies with the sound off. On this cover, Mac is the focal point, surrounded by a few key objects and an overpowering use of single color as a background. As Mac described at the time, quote, it's all about layers, but layers within oneself. I love the cover, it turned out perfectly. There's definitely a lot of symbolism in there, but for now, I'm going to let the fans go in there and talk about what it means, unquote.

Again, this quote reveals Mack's intentions with his covers, a simple aesthetic that's rich with symbolism, encouraging exploration and interpretation. Moving on, the overwhelming white background of swimming matches that of 2015's Good A.m., which likely signified a cleansing rebirth, with Mack's yawning and or screaming face in the center. Like both Blueside Park and watching movies, Mac once again used to, a single color to enable subjective interpretation. Just as the title Good AM means good morning while also suggesting an overdose, the immersive white of its color might simultaneously represent a cleansing rebirth in a clear mind, as well as death, mourning, and the afterlife. Fittingly, it's at this point in Max Discography that we can trace the interconnectivity between his studio albums, how the last song on each leads directly into the first song on the album

that follows, and how each one ends in death and begins in rebirth. Some reason I'm obsessed with album's ending in death, I don't know why, and it's not even necessarily a negative sad thing, but I guess to me an album is just a life, like it's like a mini lifetime. Recall in the first episode of the season, we observed how the final song on Good A.m., the festival, features Yucami from Little Dragon playing God welcoming Mac into heaven. Quote, I like God being female. The only way we can get the world back on the right track is to embrace the sacred female. This idea of a sacred female introduced at the end of Good A.M. connects seamlessly to Mack's next album, The Divine Feminine. On the swimming cover,

the pink suit Mac wears matches the pink background of Divine Feminine's cover. The colors of Mack's striped tie also matched the central window circle of Divine Feminine, which shows clouds in a blue sky, just like the window on the swimming cover. And like Good A.M., Divine Feminine begins with rebirth and ends in death, with the album's final track featuring an extended dialogue from Max's grandmother, talking about the love shared between her and Max's late grandfather. I just gave him a wonderful life, a good marriage, and a wonderful family. And I know he really had a beautiful life, and I did too. Recall that after his grandmother's speech, the album closes out with an extended piano part that ends on this chord.

This chord doesn't resolve the song. It's musically inconclusive. If the chord progression were to start over, returning back to the first chord in the progression, it would play a C major seventh chord, which is the exact chord that Maxis, next album Swimming begins on. And so when we take a step back and look at Mack's studio albums from a distance, it's pretty evident that Mack was consciously using the tools at his disposal to create works that are connected at every level, musically, thematically, and narratively.

Each album seems to represent chapters that accumulate into a life story. Thus, when we look at the cover of Swimming, with its direct references to each studio album, albums that end in death and begin in rebirth, we see the entirety of Mac Miller, his art being emblematic of his experience, all those doors he walked through. While all we have is now, all of time is in this moment,

and swimming shows us all the life cycles united and fused in one, all of our lifetimes together. Well, I don't need to lie no more. Nowadays, all I do is shine, take a breath and ease my mind. She don't cry no more. She tell me that I get her high because I ain't just supposed to fly. I ain't asking why no more.

Along with her connections to Mac's previous albums, each element of swimming's cover holds significant symbolic weight on its own, and each seems to point to the same symbolic end, simultaneous dichotomies. We'll start with the largest object, the black rectangle with an airplane window near the top. Almost like the monolith of Space Odyssey 2001, this imposing rectangle looms central amidst a white space background.

Perhaps this rectangle is a door. A motif throughout Mack's career which has come up time and time again on swimming as a symbol of connection and opportunity, the gateway out of his head and into the outside world where he can interact and gain experience. A door is a point of transition and on the cover, Mack is kind of sort of out the door, sitting in and out at once. As he said in perfecto, he's on the fence, on the line, constantly balancing between indoors and outdoors, oscillating between highs and lows. The rectangle also looks a lot like a coffin, that final door, in line with Mack conceptualizing his albums as many lifetimes. It also helps convey Mac being on the fence,

as he's both simultaneously high in the sky, implied by the airplane window, but also six feet underground. Here we can recall the self-care music video, directed by the same photographer that shot Swimming's cover, where Mac escaped from a coffin after being buried alive, a reminder of mortality even as Mac flies through the sky. As we discussed before, Mack's many allusions to death throughout his career feels less like premonition and more like the result of someone deeply considering our time here, grappling with death as a means of better understanding life, even seeing metaphoric deaths and rebirth as part of one's continued evolution. Following this threat of mortality, there's also Mack's suit to consider, paired with

the fact that he's barefoot. In the West, it's common for men to be buried in suits, most often without shoes on. With Mack being both in and out of the coffin, it's unclear whether he's escape death, preparing for death, or is making a transition to the afterlife. This latter interpretation might explain the airplane window photoshopped on the coffin, as Mac ascends into heaven, much like he did at the ends of both good a.m. and swimming. But if we pay attention throughout swimming, we notice that Mac's feet actually come up a lot. On perfecto, his feet are in the clouds. Then in the song's outro, Mack's feet are back on the ground as he struggles to get on the ride, which we interpreted as symbolizing substances.

Bare feet running late, her car started even though the only thing that she's driving a hard bargain. Feet also come up on small worlds. Oh, I've been a fool, but it's cool. That's what human beings do. Keep your eyes to the sky, never glued to your shoes. And on conversations part one. In all these examples, Max Feet are in the sky. or on the ground. He's either high or grounded. While substances throughout swimming offered a temporary lift into the skies, giving his worn feet a break, Mack's dirty and calloused feet on the cover imply that he spent his fair share of time taking the hard road. The juxtaposition between

the tidiness of Mack's suit and his dirty feet thus feel important as it falls in the middle ground, where he's got himself somewhat together, but not all the way. It's that real liminal zone that Mac so accurately and honestly captured throughout his albums, the fluid reality that were never going to be all one thing, never going to be fully put together, that were always in a constant state of evolution. The liminality on his outfit is matched by the in-betweenness of nearly every element on the cover. He's both in the clouds and in the coffin underground. He's dressed to the nines in a flashy bright suit, but his dirty feet are so informal that he'd be refused service at a fast food joint. The brightness of the suit at least suggests a celebratory event,

But Mack's face is lost in thought, looking down. Instead of looking out the window or enjoying the heights of his success, Mac is on the floor, with nothing but himself. Following the threat of Mack's isolation, despite his fame and fortune, there's something else to consider about his suit. Mack heads online noticed that the color of the suit, a salmon pink, is the same outfit worn by Jay Gatsby, the central character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby. The novel centers on the mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby's

attempts to romantically reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby is an extraordinary rags-to-rich's character who throws incredibly lavish parties at his mansion, yet mostly remains reclusive during these parties. The idea of a famous, reclusive, and misunderstood figure has connective threads of Mac. And if we look back at his career, it appears to be a representation he identified and experimented with. I mean, the idea of someone throwing a party at their house that they don't attend is the exact scenario Mac described in 2014's happy birthday from faces. But we haven't even more direct tie linking Mac and Gatsby on the fuck. But we haven't even more direct

tie linking Mac and Gaspby on the 2013 mixtape run-on sentences volume one, which Mack released under his pseudonym Larry Fisherman. Throughout this project, Mack directly sampled multiple scenes from the 1974 adaptation of the Great Gatsby. And I remember having the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer in the Great Gatsby. Gatsby's clothes are an important symbol, and his pink suit is one of the most important outfits he wears. Scholars tend to agree that the pink suit is representative of Gatsby's love for Daisy. When the two first reunite, there's rain, and pink clouds begin to form above the sea. Daisy tells Gatsby, quote,

I'd like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around, unquote. The somewhat odd phrasing here is important. Daisy said she'd like to put Gatsby in the pink clouds and push him around, signifying Daisy's emotional control over him. Thus Gatsby in a pink suit after the scene feels like a clear embodiment of those pink clouds, and they escape and hope symbolically attached to them. Gatsby is also in the pink suit the last time the novel's narrator sees him alive. As the narrator walks away from Gatsby for the final time, he writes, quote,

His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot of color against the white steps, unquote. On the cover of swimming, Mack is literally in a pink suit in the clouds against a white background. Not only that, but we've also observed Mack using similar symbols throughout swimming, the sky, clouds, and the sea. And like the Great Gatsby, Mac established a, connection between pink and love with Divine Feminence cover, which Mack's own pink suit nods to in the composition of Swimming's artwork. Given this clear fusion of love with pink and clouds, we're forced to consider Mack's relationship with Ariana Grande here. Recall that on the chorus of

Swimming's Dunno, perhaps Max's most blatant song about Grande, Max's son, quote, until there is no longer, let's get lost inside the clouds, using clouds as a symbolic safe space of love and escape, similar to Daisy and Gatsby. We also noted in our episode on Dunno that Grande's association with clouds is very well known. She often uses the cloud emoji on social media, has a tattoo of clouds, and even has her own perfume named Cloud. She also said that pale pink is one of her favorite colors. But perhaps what cements the connection most is the fact that Ariana Grande has been an outspoken fan of the Great Gatsby for years. She once tweeted that Gatsby was one of her favorite movies and expressed excitement about the release of 2013's adaptation of Gatsby starring

Leonardo DiCaprio. When Mack passed away in 2018, Ronde posted a quote from the Great Gatsby novel on social media. She also posted a screenshot of her listening to Dunno, surrounding Mac and his pink suit with numerous cloud emojis. Now before moving away from the Gatsby connection, there's one last thing to observe about the story and its relation to swimming in circles. The final line of the novel is one of the more iconic and well-known lines in literary history, poignant summation of the story's central takeaway, and an insightful observation about the human condition, quote, So we beat on, boats against the current, born-back ceaselessly into the past, unquote. Much of the genius of this final line rests specifically with the word choice of born, B-O-R-N-E,

in the phrase born-back ceaselessly into the past, as Born has multiple definitions. One is heavy burden or anchor, and in this reading, the final line comments that our past is a heavy weight on us no matter how hard we try to move forward in this life. What we think is forward progress is merely an illusion. Whatever headway we might make will ultimately be met by another current that throws us backward, and we find ourselves right back where we started. But born could also mean given birth to, and this paired with the phrase, so we beat on, lends a little more hope and optimism to the final line. The idea being that while the currents might be unrelenting, so too is the human spirit, beating on despite the heavy forces constantly pushing back.

Thus, both hope and fear are present simultaneously in Gatsby's final line. In our constant effort to make forward progress, we will face constant obstacles. Sometimes we move forward, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we overcome difficulties, sometimes we're broken by them. Sometimes we repeat the mistakes of our past, sometimes we break new ground. It's a nearly identical observation about the human condition that Mack makes in its final work. because just as boats beat against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past, so too do we swim in circles, finding ourselves right back where we started.

This brings us to circles and it's captured by Christian Weber, the same photographer who shot swimming's cover. The black and white album cover shows us two photos of Mac overlapping each other. One Mac is looking at us, eyes open, resting his hand against his head, and the other Mac has his eyes closed, one eye covered by his hand. Once again, simultaneity is the central theme here. The Mac holding his head in his hand, eyes closed, is seemingly stuck inside his mind, a recurrent lament throughout both albums.

This is the Mac downtrodden, beaten, and disconnected, taking a break and laying down for a little. At the same time, the other Mac is looking directly at us, offering us the window to his soul, his eyes. With our eye contact, we establish connection, we're outside and exposed to one another. Taken in its totality, the circles cover shows Mac both inside and outside, both high and low, in line with Mac's constant oscillations to the point of simultaneity throughout swimming in circles. Somehow the album covers of both swimming and circles turn singular, stationary images into the full spectrum of existence. the overall human beingness that Mack sought to communicate. Also prominent on the cover is the tattoo on the back of Mack's hand,

a circle filled with an image of an ocean's horizon, sky above, and water below. This is what Mack knew like the back of his hand, an image that seemingly presents swimming in circles, down to the parallel image of sky and sea, the simultaneous high and low. Finally, we observe that both images of Mack on the circles cover are fading. Neither is completely opaque, and while their overlapping transparencies offer solid colors at some points, this is a frozen moment and a fade.

Like a memory, Mac is fading from us, but he is also with us, always. We'll be back right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Having now looked at both swimming in circles individually, it's time we take a step back to observe potential connectivity between the two projects. We can start by recapping what we've already covered this season. In our episode on So It Goes, we observed the connective tissue between the first and last songs on swimming, and how multiple elements pointed to the album being both a musical

and symbolic circle. Mack's final line of the album's final verse, just like a circle I go back where I'm from, first clue us into these connections, as did Max's long history of connecting the ends and beginnings of his albums. Musically, the opening track come back to Earth and the final track so it goes, are in the same key, feature at one point identical chord progressions, and both start and then on the same exact chord, which reinterpreted as a musical gesture that suggests a circle, as the album starts and ends in the same place from a tonal perspective. Symbolically, the extended musical outro of So It Goes was described by Mack himself as the ascension into heaven, while the title, Come Back to Earth implies a come down. So the rise at the end of the

album sets up the fall at its beginning. And if we think about how one would travel along the circumference of a circle, it would be exactly this movement, an endless rise and fall. So it seems pretty clear, at least to me, that swimming is a self-contained circle, but both musically and symbolically. But that final line, just like a circle I go back where I'm from, simultaneously lays groundwork for the album circles, which of course begins with the song Circles. Recall that Circles starts with the line,

this is what it looks like right before you fall, implying that Mac is currently at some great height. This seems pretty clearly connected to that ascension at the end of swimming, creating even more connective tissue between the end of swimming and the beginning of circles. Finally, in our episode on Circles' last track, once a day, we'll reveal how the entire album can be heard as a musical circle, as the album's final unresolved chord is resolved by the chord that begins the album. And so when we step back to observe the symbolic structure of both swimming and circles,

we realize that both albums are self-contained circles that are simultaneously linked together, two independent compositions that combine to create a larger piece of art. While to me, there's more than enough evidence in the music and lyrics alone to indicate this structure, we can actually find what feels like confirmation and the affidavit. merchandise that accompanied both swimming in circles. There were a number of apparel items created in tandem with the albums, and many of the images on the garments played off symbols Mac employed throughout the music. There's a shirt with an image of two dice, as in rolling the dice, tying into the recurring gambling motif in swimming. It was also a number of pieces

that feature waves and water, for obvious reasons. But the image that really caught my attention when I first saw it was a hoodie that accompanied the release of circles. It features a symbol graphic of two overlapping circles, almost like a Venn diagram. The circle on the left is the yin-yang symbol turned on its side, the famous ancient Chinese concept of two opposing yet complementary forces. This is represented visually with two black and white swirls within a circle, each containing a spot within the other. The yin-yang symbol was prominently featured on a number of swimming's merchandise items, which was obviously before the release of circles, thus it's closely associated with the swimming album. And given our extensive analysis of

simultaneous forces this episode and this season, it's not hard to understand why Mack would be drawn to perhaps the most recognizable symbol that exemplifies harmonizing dichotomies. The other circle on the right side that's interlocked with the yin yang symbol is completely empty, just a single line forming the circle with empty white space within. Because it seems self-evident that the yin-yang symbol represents swimming, it stands to reason that the empty circle would represent the album circles. Earlier this season, we talked extensively about the traditional symbolism of the empty circle, and how so much of it relates to the themes of Mack's album. We talked about how there is no beginning or end to a circle, a reflection of eternity.

We talked about how the empty space within reflected the no-mind concept of Zen Buddhism, where one is freed from thoughts, emotions, and desires, completely present in the now. Finally, we talked about how a circle embodies the infinite cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. So it appears that this merchandise graphic is a visual representation of the structure of swimming in circles, swimming on the left. represented by the yin-yang and circles on the right represented by the empty circle two individual yet overlapping circles just like the two albums once a day I rise once a day I fall asleep with you once a day I try but I can't find a single word Upon the release of Circles, producer John Bryan sat down with the New York Times to discuss the album and his process bringing it to completion.

It was here that he revealed that Swimming and Circles weren't a double album, but that Mack was actually planning a trilogy. Quote, there were supposed to be three albums. The first, swimming, was sort of the hybridization of going between hip-hop and song form. The second, which he'd already decided would be called Circles, would be song-based. And I believe the third one would have just been a pure hip-hop record. I think he wanted to tell people, I still love this, I still do this, unquote. Beyond this quote from Brian, there's not much information about this third album. But the internet being the internet, a rumor began to circulate that this third album was to be

titled Till Infinity, making the trilogy swimming in circles till infinity. To be clear, no one close to Mack has confirmed this rumor. It's simply a rumor. But it's not hard to understand why there would be speculation to this end, as Mac's association with infinity and forever has been present since the start of his career. There's his crew, Most Dope, which often used the tag Most Dope That's Forever. There's also the tag 92 tell Infinity that followed Mac most of his career, a tag that was recently included on a number of official merch items for swimming in circles.

But perhaps the most direct connection between swimming and circles and the idea of Infinity came at the official pop-up installations that celebrated the release of Circles in 2020. It was here that fans could listen to the new album and experience a beautiful collection of art created by the MacMiller fan community. The title of these pop-up installations was Circles Till Infinity, and the official event description read, quote, brushstrokes and snapshots frozen in time, gradations of tone and color and texture,

forged in honor of an icon whose music and lyrics continue to inspire us in our collective quest for beauty, belonging, and honesty in this lifetime. Understanding that, like all things, we are simultaneously temporal and infinite, driven together by our collective humanity. This is circles till infinity, unquote. What I think Mack's team captured so well at these pop-up installations

is the eternal quality I think we all recognize and feel in Mac Miller's final works. We don't need that third album and its rumored title to confirm that. All we need to do is focus on what Mac already gave us, because think about it, swimming in circles, two self-contained but connected circles. Imagine that in your mind. two circles laid side by side. What does that create?

The infinity symbol. In swimming in circles, in his art and his life, Malcolm McCormick gave us forever. He captured the beauty of the simultaneous, the complete holistic encapsulation of life experience. This planet, our world and home, a circle full of water. And all of us together in the water, we are swimming in circles, within circles, within circles. to infinity.

I just really want to do like some crazy things that I can look back when this is all said and done and be like someone, and I could be proud of what I've done, you know, and really feel like that I've changed something in a good way for years to come. Any last words? Yeah. Fun is for everyone. My name's James and I'm from Queens and Australia. The last 12 months of me are for the best and worst than my life has ever seen.

The feeling of swimming in circles became all concerned. was became all-consuming. Every day was a consistent perseverance to not drown, but why? Tomorrow I would still be in the water. Mack helped me to find peace with this. My biggest takeaway is that what is happiness without sadness, flying with no chance of fooling, or swimming without the threat of drowning? We may be swimming, but it's better than drowning. We may be moving in circles, but it's better than not moving at all. We have a life, so we may as well live it. Thank you, Cole. Thank you, Mac. Hi, my name is Emerson, and I'm from Seattle, Washington. My biggest takeaway from swimming in circles is emotional connection with oneself.

Mack used music to connect with himself and express his deepest emotions, and I really think he wants his fans to do the same through his music. There's so much freedom and mental relief when we unabashedly identify our true emotions, both good and bad. And what better explanation of that than swimming in circles? We'll always have these cyclical emotions, so identify them and keep swimming. I love you, Mack. Rest in peace. Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm from Chicago.

Swimming is really one of the first albums that helped me process my father dying. He died about six months after its release from addiction. I never really got to listen to Circles because it was a hard listen for me. So thank you to Dissect for Friendly helping me listen to that. This is one of my favorite seasons so far. I kind of realized that as long as I keep moving, I can swim forward. So thank you to this dissect team. Hey, it's Connor from London.

My biggest takeaway from season nine would probably be to try to stay present in the moment that there will only ever be right now. To accept the changing currents and tides that lives gives us and to try swim with them, learning what we can from experience and growing because of it. Honesty also, even with the parts of ourselves that we don't like and even when we're dishonest. While it's okay to want things, our needs are what's important and are often. enough. Thank you, Mac. My name is Jacob and I'm from South Carolina. The first time I heard come back to Earth, it was like someone was saying what I had felt for years but had no words for.

Yeah, I knew I had to listen to the rest of the album immediately. My relation to some of Mac's challenges followed for the entirety of swimming and it quickly became one of my favorite albums of all time. Mack had an aptitude for speaking life to his feelings. I'll always be grateful to him for giving us these beautiful works of art. Thanks to you, Cole and Cam for helping us all connect to these albums more. Hi, my name is Joe, and I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Throughout this season, I realized that love was central for how Mac lived. Overall, Mack's way of treating others should be inspiration for all of us.

Additionally, the Woods episode provided a powerful analogy, that we accept our place in the woods instead of trying to escape the woods. As a person who has struggled with acceptance throughout their life, this spoke to me dearly. I also wanted to say that the outro and so it goes truly represents the magic of music. Hey Cole, this is Jacob from South Carolina, and my biggest takeaway from swimming in circles is that life is dynamic. It's not a harpsichord, it's a piano. And this album helps me remember to not just keep pushing even when it's dark, but take the beauty that I can from it because we can't be one thing all the time. Max Music is such a good example of that.

It's been there to lean on when I've been depressed or heartbroken. It's been there to be the perfect song on a windows down summer evening drive with my friends. and it will be there for whatever life brings us next. Thanks for listening. Love the show. Hi, Cole. This is Alicia from New York. Circles is a painfully beautiful piece of art that's allowed me to work through grief in my own personal life. It provides a sort of resolution we don't always get.

The entire album is so open, deliberate, and genuine. It reminded me to hold on to the things I love most in this life. We miss you, Mac. Hey, Cole. Nolan from San Antonio, Texas. My biggest takeaway from the season is learning that there's always a next chapter in life and not to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I found Mack you're in an early chapter in my life, and I'm so glad I did.

Mac was my person to lean on in many situations I was going through and being close to the same age as him. I felt like we were going through the same struggles of anxiety, stress, and loneliness all at the same time. So it was nice I haven't by my side while I was trying to get to the next chapter in my life. Thank you, Cole. rest in peace, Mac. So it goes. This is Griffin from Chicago. A quick thanks to Cole for dissecting the last two albums for my number one artist of all time. Matt came on the scene when I was at the end of my college career.

My buddy showed me Kool-Aid and Frozen Pits and I was instantly hooked. Swimming came out when I was heavily drinking and Circles was released when I was in recovery. These albums have helped me keep calm, keep me at peace, helps me appreciate the love and support I've had during my recovery via hand-me-downs, and it helps keep my doorstep free from that shady-ass devil. Thank you, Mack. My name's Noah. I'm from Los Angeles, and the biggest thing that Mack taught me through swimming in circles

was that no matter how good or bad my life is at a given moment, that moment will pass. Happiness gives way to pain, which gives way to happiness again, and there's value in both, because in the end, we're all just trying to keep our heads above the water. I love you, Mac. I wish you were still here. Hi, Cole, my name is Joshua and I'm from Venice, Italy. A vital part in rendering my pandemic experience manageable has been Mac Miller,

and more specifically, swimming in circles. These two albums have comforted me in low moments and always make me feel like everything will be fine. This season of Dysect specifically has made me more appreciative and willing to embrace the inevitable ups and downs of life, as well as the importance of being honest with oneself. Cole, thank you for being great company in my ear as I move to my own. for life. And Mack, we love you more than words can express. My name is Sedona and I'm from Arizona and this season highlighted how life is such a balance. Just as Mack's albums, songs and themes portray, our lives are such an ebb and flow of highs and lows.

I feel like I was able to take a glimpse into the life of Mack and learn about what an incredible soul he was. I love that this season really gave me the opportunity to draw connections between Mac Miller as a person, his masterful music, and the human experience. And I want to thank Cole Kushna for his thoughtful, wise, and beautiful thoughts about these albums and about music in general. Every episode of this podcast leaves me feeling inspired and I am so in love with everything that dissect is. Hi, my name is Isaac and I'm from Pennsylvania. My biggest takeaway was the layers and symbols in Max's music. His battle with addiction and describing it as drowning really hit me because at the time of his passing, I was going through a lot and I wasn't coping the way I should have. But when I heard circles,

I felt like I lost a big brother, and I was having one last conversation with him as he was telling me, it's okay. Everything will work out. Just keep your head above the water, and I'll see you on the other side. And it did get better. He'll never know, but he helped me swim too. Thank you Dysak for doing an incredible job on breaking down his works. Mack would be proud. Rest in peace, buddy.

I miss you. Hi, Cole. Yusuf from Egypt here. Mac's incredible vulnerability and beautifully crafted music, really resonated with me and made me realize that the best way to get over something is to go through it with acceptance and honesty. We got to jump in to swim, right? His music really does have a special place in my heart, and tuning into this season of The Sect Only Shed More Light on how ingeniously crafted it all was and cemented that I was on the right path. So, thank you, Cole,

and to all those involved for dedicating this season to swimming in circles, and thank you, Mack. This is Sean from Richmond, Virginia. In August 2018, I decided to give swimming a listen. Why not, I told myself, despite my misconceptions of Mac is simply a frat-rapper. What I discovered was a man unafraid to bear his soul, both the good and bad. A man pushing himself to improve his craft. Almost immediately, Mac felt like a friend I'd known for a long time, which made it all the more devastating a few weeks later when his life was cut far too short.

I feel blessed to have his music, and I look forward to discovering nuances with each listen. Thank you, Mack. It ain't 2009 no more, but we will have you forever. Hi, Dysek. This is Anthony from Toronto. Even before his untimely passing, listening to swimming all the way through would legit make me cry. Every song just bleeds so perfectly into each other. I really never would have imagined that the guy that made Kool-Aid and frozen pizza could end up making a song like 2009. On this album through elegant soul-bearing, Mack explained that even though existing is exhausting, living can be worthwhile. Just keep swimming. I miss you every day, Malcolm, and thank you, Cole. Sarah from New Jersey, swimming came out right before my senior year of high school,

which was also the year I read Slaughterhouse 5 in my AP lit class. Both that book and the album have stuck with me over the years, so hearing the possible connection between the two and the So It Goes episode was a true full circle moment. I actually woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the homophonic motif of So It Goes Circles. It felt like my past and my present came together at the same moment. After all, nothing ever really ends. It just begins again. Thank you, Mack, and thank you, Kurt. My name's Duran from Sydney, and my biggest takeaway from Swimming in Circles and the Dysect podcast is that this project was very well thought out. The concept of swimming in circles is nothing new to Mac, and it was conceived from the very start of his career. I think everything he created prior,

From mixtapes to EPs and so on ultimately led him to this beautiful double album known as Swimming in Circles. I just wanted to thank Cole and the whole dissect team for season 9. It's truly been an amazing listen. This is Nivead from India. So season 9 has meant so much to be in different ways, but if there's one word I could use probably to describe the experience, it would be groove. Mac, man, what a genius, such introspective lyrics. and every Wednesday morning when I used to put it on as I was doing my morning stretches, it really used to give me that mental boost for the entire day.

Thank you, Mac, for beautifying this world with your lyrics and thank you, Dysect podcast for really bringing out the genius that is Mac Miller. Thank you. Hey, this is Tyler Ryan from New Orleans. My biggest takeaway this season came pretty early in the What's the Use episode. Suicidal thoughts, addiction, depression, have been something I've been something I've struggled with my whole life. I've found at times peace and balance are possible with a change of perspective and ability to stay present, appreciating the moment in the moment. Like Max said, it is

what it is. That change of perspective has been possible because of Dysect. This season has helped so much in my recovery and the way I view and create music and the way I live. I'm so grateful. Thank you. Hey, this is Eric from the Netherlands. When Good News dropped as a single, I was in a pretty bad plays mentally. The song specifically and later the album made me realize that not being your best self at times is okay. It helped me process a lot of bad feelings by accepting that you can be down sometimes. There can't be any highest highs without lowest lows. Arthur from Paris. Heaven across borders, I consider Mac Miller to be one of the most talented artists of his time. And thanks to the Dyside podcast, I also

also discovered how talented SunnerCat was with his fabulous bass leg taken in one shot and what's the goes. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-d-do-d-d-do-d-do-d-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. This really blow my mind, being a bass player, with great lyrics from Mac, complementary to the bass. Hey Cole and the Dysack team, this is Kobe from the southwest suburbs of Chicago. I want to thank you all for another amazing season that pushes me to think deeper about some of my favorite albums and think deeper about life in general. My biggest takeaway from this season relates to mindfulness. To understand that no one is

keeping score and to truly be present is to take each moment as a new beginning to do better, knowing that we need to unburden ourselves with counterproductive, internalized pressure, and just keep swimming. My name's Jess. I'm from L.A., and I constantly say that swimming saved my life. Dysack Season 9 is honestly the best gift I have ever gotten. And I constantly just pictured Mac listening to your analysis in my head, smiling because you picked up on all these meanings and because even if we can't know everything, 100%, he would just love knowing that it made an impact on you and then on us.

Thank you so much. Hey, my name is Gerard. I'm from just outside of Detroit. Something about Mac that the season of Dyssect made me appreciate more is how accessible he was with interviews and hip-hop music. media. Even though one of his leading messages was to listen to his music to understand how he's doing and where he's at in life, his interviews always seem to give fans a genuine peek behind the curtain. To me, the most enlightening reference happened in episode one when

Max stressed the importance of listeners having their own experience with music and how leaving things unsaid can help bring new meaning that not even he thought about. That's beautiful because it's not only relevant to several songs on swimming, but it highlights part of the ethos of dissect too. Hi, I'm Lulu and I'm from Chicago. There are things that mean so much to you that you can't verbalize it. Words can't adequately express how deep your feelings truly are towards them. Listening to this season opened my eyes, it's so much about swimming in circles. It's something I'm going to carry with me for as long as I'm here to listen. The vulnerability and honesty and Mack's music is tangible and it's meditative. He allowed himself to let go,

swimming become one with the tides rather than fight against them. He always believed that we as humans, despite our mistakes could do better. And as long as we push forward, there's always something greater for us beyond. And that's what's most beautiful to me. I'm Kara from Michigan. Mack and his music feel like a friend. Swimming is my favorite 59 minutes on earth. It's a place I go for every mood, to cry, to dance, to laugh. That's really what swimming is to me, an honest place to feel, where I can take a cleansing breath, feeling centered and present. Now is only now. Society rejects feelings that are uncomfortable and only promotes feeling light and breezy, but Mack is the anomaly. Mack invites us to sit in the shit with him. Wash yourself off with the pain instead of trying

to ignore it, because the only way out is through. The world is a better place because he walked on its surface. Most dope forever. I love you, Mack. Thank you. All right, I hope you enjoyed hearing those as much as I did. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts. We actually have a bunch more submissions that will be including in a bonus episode that will release shortly after this one, so definitely check those out. If you didn't get a chance to submit your clip, I'm going to give you your 30 seconds now. Be it a feeling, a particular theme, a memorable song, or moment, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, take this opportunity to think about your biggest takeaway from Mac Miller's Swimming in Circles.

Okay, everyone, thank you so much for listening this season. Both myself and co-writer Camden are genuinely grateful for each and every one of you so passionately supporting this podcast. We'll talk to you in a few months when we'll dissect another musical masterwork, because great art deserves more than a swipe. This season of Dissect was written by Camden Oostrander and me. A huge thank you to Camden for all his incredible work this season. Can't wait to get started on our next one together.

Thanks to Andrew Atwood for the amazing song recreations and also to be bureaucratic for two great original themes this season. Thank you to Eric Bass for audio editing and to all the people behind the scenes at Spotify, including Dan, Hannah, Robert, Casey, Julietta, Mia, Teal, Sue, Amanda, and Jordan, all of whom have helped make and grow this show over the years. Of course, thanks again to all of you. If you want to keep in touch over the break, follow me on social media at Dysect Podcast. I'll talk to you next season.