Mac Miller’s 2014 Mixtape “Faces” Officially Hits Streaming Platforms
A re-release of Mac Miller’s 2014 mixtape? Don’t mind if I do.
Faces, Mac Miller’s eleventh and final mixtape, is now available to stream across all platforms and vinyl for the very first time. The second album put out since his sudden passing in 2018, Faces originally dropped in May of 2014 to follow his sophomore album, Watching Movies with The Sound Off. Now, it succeeds Circles, which was released posthumously at the beginning of 2020.
The mixtape contains 25 songs under Warner Records, most of which were produced by the hands of Miller, with features from ScHoolboy Q, Sir Michael Rocks, Earl Sweatshirt, Rick Ross, Mike Jones, Vince Staples, and Da$h. Besides Miller, 9th Wonder, ID Labs, Thundercat, DrewByrd, Rahki, THC, and Big Jerm also helped produced a few of the songs. Plus, Earl Sweatshirt assisted on production for “Polo Jeans” and “New Faces,” which he also is featured on. The final track of the album titled “Yeah” was added for the re-release, and Miller is also featured on a song called “Day Before” on Young Thug’s new album Punk, which dropped today.
In “Making Faces (A Short Film),” directed by Sam Balaban, Miller’s whole experience of creating Faces is detailed, including how much time he spent in the studio creating his art, and how he always tries to live as openly and honestly as possible through every up and down.
“It felt like it was my own world, that I felt like I could really grow into my own creatively, just kind of find myself through the music I was making,” he said. “Music is the most important thing in my life. As long as that is the fundamental foundation in my whole philosophy of every single thing I do – music it is, you know – I don’t think we’re going to lose.”
One month ago, the premiere of the tape was announced with the drop of the music video for the song “Colors and Shapes,” which was directed by Sam Mason and inspired by Miller’s pet, Ralph.
“I asked Malcolm’s family to send me bits and pieces from his childhood, scenes from the town where he grew up, objects, toys from his room — little pieces of his life that I extrapolated outwards and used to inspire the story,” Mason told Pitchfork about his direction with the video. “It’s meant to be a video about childhood — growing up as an artist and the highs and lows of that experience. It’s sort of a look at the emotional and difficult and perilous but noble path of an artist.”
Mac Miller brings listeners into distinct new worlds with his music, and it’s comforting to see that he isn’t stopping. Check out Mac Miller’s Faces on streaming platforms now, and watch “Making Faces (A Short Film)” below and the music video for “Colors and Shapes” here.