Embracing Life’s Tightrope Walk: Mac Miller’s Faces

The cover of Faces

After its initial release in May 2014, Mac Miller’s Faces is now finally available on streaming platforms, giving the world an opportunity to further dive into the delicately splintered humanity of Mac Miller’s mind.

By Ian Eisenbrand

Faces, released in 2014, puts Mac Miller on a tightrope of worn and threading fibers. The existential unease that thematically prevails throughout the album awaits below him, desperately reaching for his ankles, wanting nothing but to drag him into the cascading depths of his mind. However, in the face of this, Mac saunters along the line. He chooses not to waste his energy reaching his arms out for balance, instead embracing the looming darkness that lays just under the surface of his cynically confident charm. In Faces, Miller makes it clear that he is fully aware of the threat his drug abuse and rooted mental unrest holds, yet offers no reservation towards their presence. Instead, he allows the world around him to soak into his skin, leaving himself open to the contortions his life may cause to the reflection he sees in the mirror. Miller then uses Faces to paint this new reflection in acidic oils, allowing the colors of both his triumphs and tragedies to blend into a portrait of his beautifully tragic mortality. 

The mixtape opens with a forthright introduction to the perspective that forms the frame of Faces in “Inside Outside”. The track’s opening line initiates a dialogue that persists throughout the project surrounding Mac Miller’s complicated relationship with the life he has chosen and his mortality. Miller proclaims his mantra:

“I shoulda died already”

The rest of the 25-track project continues the discussion of Mac Miller’s crippling drug usage on songs like “Angel Dust'' and his eroding mental health in the midst of his growing fame on tracks such as “It Just Doesn’t Matter.” As the tracklist goes on, though, Miller shifts back and forth between a variety of attitudes regarding his central premise. Faces is ambivalently split between times in which Miller’s confidence appears completely unhindered by the wilting world around him and stages in which he is left complacent, yet thoroughly hopeless in the twilight of his mind. The result is a project defined by its scattered character as it fluctuates across the tracklist. This could be seen as a lack of grounding within the project, or as the roots of a project that overcomplicates itself through an excessive array of moods. However, the world of Faces is not one constituting a stable canvas and to offer a more consistent temperament would contradict the paradox of Mac Miller’s mind, making for an inauthentic record. The fact that the project’s truth is both harsh and at times overwhelming does not take away from the weight of its reality. 

Due to the harsh intimacy of the album, it could be surprising that Mac Miller was able to find features capable of capturing the moment Faces resides in. However, several collaborations greatly contribute to the discourse of Faces. 

Rick Ross (''Insomniak''), Vince Staples (''Rain”) are noteworthy in the list of accredited collaborators who both shined in their respective roles. However, Earl Sweatshirt makes likely the most impactful appearances on both “Polo Jeans” and “New Faces v2.” Best known for his commentary on themes of depression, drug abuse, and existentialism, Earl Sweatshirt capitalizes on this alignment with Faces. However, all three artists’ sweet rhyme schemes are thoroughly salted with the discussion of their own struggles, establishing themselves as a groomsman in Miller’s marriage to the chains of his mind and addictions.

The thematic contents of Faces are supported by an eccentric jazz-infused hip-hop production style. The instrumentals are often defined by sampled horn and piano sections, such as “Diablo,” which samples an iconic piano line from the John Coltrane and Duke Ellington track “In a Sentimental Mood”. Faces also offers a distinct rhythm section characterized by disjointed drum loops, placing Mac Miller into unique pockets to form his technical skills around, showcasing his lyrical talent. The instrumentals, the majority of which are produced by Miller himself, effectively serve as the backbone of Mac Miller’s confessions and ramblings.

As of October 2021, many Mac Miller fans are now able to finally dive into the artist’s previously elusive project for the first time. This follows its absence from streaming services since it was released seven years prior, yet the satisfaction this release may bring to millions worldwide is tainted by its tragic context. Four years following Faces’ release, Mac Miller passed away due to a drug overdose in 2018 at the age of twenty-six. In light of this, a project that indicated Miller’s greatest jump in maturity across his discography becomes exponentially more invaluable in understanding an artist so widely cherished and missed. In Faces, Mac Miller became a guide to a generation, perhaps not through his standing as a moral role model, but instead through his profound authenticity in his walk through life that prevailed beyond the imbalances life’s tightrope brought him.