It must also be said that, to Miller’s credit, his choice of collaborators here are absolutely spot-on. “ROS” plays out as a love letter to his long-term partner and what they have been thorough over the last two years, supported by DJ Dahi’s marvellous beat, which is as much Chilly Gonzales as it is DJ Mustard. On opener “Doors,” Miller briefly touches on his time out of the limelight professing, “Didn’t mean to cause you pain, I just needed to escape” with Tyler, The Creator’s typically beautiful production providing a perfect backdrop. These experiences have obviously inspired Miller’s newfound honesty, and his battle scars are etched all over the album’s 17 songs (as well as its title). In an enlightening interview with Grantland, he delved into his struggles with addiction and his time spent living with Rick Rubin in an attempt to get clean. This probably stems from Miller’s state of mind over the past couple of years. The result is an album that is significantly more cohesive and interesting than anything that has come before. On lead single “100 Grandkids” he proclaims, “I may be a little arrogant, I’m aware of it/I know I got a problem, I’mma take care of it” over bouncing production, and this honesty is something that continues throughout.
Now, the former WILD headliner is back with his third and best album, “GO:OD AM.” For the first time, it feels like we are getting to know who Miller really is beneath the party- and stoner-guy personas. For all their merits though, both struggled to truly captivate and inspire. That year he released his second album, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off,” a vast improvement upon his earlier work, and followed this up with the criminally underrated “Faces” mixtape last year. Since the turn of 2013, however, Miller has undergone a vast stylistic change, and he’s all the better for it. Back then, he was the party rapper who made dreadful songs about the man who is going to “make America great again.” When he first burst into the mainstream with his 2010 mixtape, “K.I.D.S,” it was a very different Mac Miller from the one we are witnessing today. Mac Miller’s career arc has been both fascinating and surprising. Tracks to download: “Break The Law,” “ROS,” “Clubhouse” But it all came from that one performance in eighth grade.For fans of: Schoolboy Q, Vince Staples, Ab-Soul I worked at that, and then I went to high school, and joined the jazz band there, and some of the guys in that joined my band, and we just carried on playing shows. But I got up there and performed a cover version, and a song I had just written, and immediately after, people suddenly wanted to talk to me, I got all this attention – especially from girls! And it propelled me to keep going, and I started booking shows, open-mic nights in places such as The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. I was so mad to have had to move schools and leave all my friends, so I didn’t participate in anything. But I was getting confident in lessons, and wrote my first couple of songs, so I decided to perform at the eighth-grade talent show – and remember, at that point, no one had really ever heard me even speak. “I was a complete outcast I didn’t talk to anyone for about two years.
The music lessons aside, Tor’s new school was, for a long time, not a place he was happy to attend.
Who was this musician singing – in a sandpapered voice rich with vibrato and hoarse with emotion – as if his life depended on it, hurling himself off the precipice, wrestling the song to the floor, as the piano pounded and the melody, as it hit the final chorus, slipped its moorings and soared skywards? And how come, so few singers do this? Occupy a song, tear the lyric from their chest, sing with such passion and recklessness that they seem to be locked in mortal combat with the darkest corners of their heart and their soul. Anyone lucky enough to hear the demo version of Tor Miller’s song, “Headlights” would have instantly added the name of the 20-year-old native New Yorker to the latter list. And then there is that select type of vocalist who can take a song to the next level, burrow deep beneath its skin, and pin you to your seat as they do so.
#Good am mac miller tor full
Talent shows across the globe are full of them, singing for their supper, hoping for that lucky break. There are any number of singers who can turn in a pitch-perfect performance, who can hold a note, shape a phrase, and project their voices to the back of the hall.