Mac Miller is almost done with his third studio album. "It's coming," he said earlier this month.
The finish line is in sight, but it took a while for Mac to get to this point. We take a look back at Mac's road to finishing the album, starting nearly 20 months ago when he said he had four half-finished LPs on deck. Indeed, the road has been long and arduous. But, as they say, life isn't a destination, it's a journey.
January 2014-August 2014: Spread too thin
Miller announced at the top of 2014 that he was sitting on four potential albums, one of which presumably being Pink Slime, his elusive collaboration with Pharrell. “Four albums have the foundation and have at least seven songs on each of them," he said.
Over the course of the year he dropped his Faces mixtape and got in the studio with Nas, Ab-Soul, & Your Old Droog. Then, in August, he announced that he had nine separate projects concurrently under construction. None of these alleged nine projects have yet to surface in full.
October 2014: Mac signs with Warner
After ditching Rostrum Records early in 2014, Miller signed a $10 million deal with Warner. Though it marked his first contract with a major label, he'll still release his records through his Remember Music imprint.
"Warner is the most independent thinking company I met with," he explained. "It is a partnership and now I can focus on building my label Remember through music and let them handle everything I don't like doing. Nothing will change in how I do things."
After releasing loose single "Just Some Raps, Nothing To See Here, Move Along" to celebrate, he elaborated further on his decision to sign with Warner. "I think it just makes sense for where I'm at right now and where I could possibly go," he said. "I'd like to just see what's like to have those resources and have that reach."
[???]-May 2015: The recording process
It's impossible to date the genesis of Miller's upcoming album, given that he had four separate half-finished albums a year and a half ago and he's no doubt constantly kicking it in his home studio in LA laying down fresh material.
He seemed to renew his determination to finish the project at the top of 2015. He had a productive spurt in February, then headed to Pittsburgh at the end of April to finish the album once and for all.
We got a nice appetizer in May in the form of two drum-dominant DJ Clockwork-produced tracks, "Boo (Interlude)" and "I Got This Beat In My Head."
This album is the first album I recorded while being happy in a long time.
"This album is mac like you've never heard him before." @MacMiller
Got something special for you guys before the album. Really feelin myself recently & Feelin like I gotta catch you up to where my head at🔥🔥🔥
Excited to go to Pittsburgh and finish this album
Mac Miller is famously laid back, enjoying not only smoking copious amounts of marijuana but also playing sports and staying active. Still just 23 years old, he's a recreational guy, and this no doubt extended the album's already lengthy creative process (especially when compounded by an assortment of concert dates in late 2014 and early 2015).
His top notch Instagram account includes pictures of him pursuing variety of leisure activities: shooting hoops, whipping his tennis game into shape, soaking up some rays down in Mexico, and biking with his mom. (He said in late 2014 that he'd drop a Mother's Day mixtape May 11... never happened.)
June 2015-July 2015: Putting on the finishing touches
Miller commenced the mixing process at the beginning of June, and as recently as July 7 was working on the liner notes. No word on how much longer he has to go, but it's pretty clear he is now in the home stretch.
We got an album to mix and @IdlabsMusic in here watching home appliance YouTube videos.
"Where are you with the album?" They asked, "I'm at the bags under my eyes part." I replied.
Getting very excited
Salute the bro @MacMiller .. Cool dude .. We making some bangers !
Listening to loud music with my friends. @MacMiller @MixedByAli @DjDahi pic.twitter.com/LJQ0ICoGCd
Ask @MixedByAli bout the stalbum