Music Review: Mac Miller – Watching Movies With The Sound Off

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you had to switch things up or go back to your previous approach to get things right? Well, Mac Miller sure knows about this. He gained notoriety as the fully hip hop-fun-loving-white-kid on “K.I.D.S.” and evolved to the part time party animal on “Best Day Ever”. Once he released “Blue Slide Park”, he was becoming type casted. For the sake of reality (and his career), Mac Miller knew he had to retrace his steps to get things back on track.
After he “got back on track”, he took the time to release Watching Movies With The Sound Off.
A good amount of this album is about Mac Miller getting loose on the mic. From the Earl Sweatshirt featured “I’m Not Real” to the Flying Lotus produced “S.D.S.”, plenty of the tracks allow Mac to spit lyrics with abandon. Even ensuing tracks like “Gees” and “Suplexes inside of Complexes and Duplexes” can be conceivable excuses for him to just spit freely. It seems that Mac hasn’t stopped having fun. Rather than make “fun party music”, he is having fun flexing his skill with lyrics.
Still, there are some songs that actually present plenty of maturity. “REMember” is Mac’s dedication a lost friend and confidant. “Someone Like You” takes in perspective the need of someone that can help him through the madness. A personal favorite comes in the form of “Youforia”. On this track, with no rapping involved and only singing, he finds a peace that he so longed for. For the sake of argument, Mac Miller has honestly grown up on this album.

Many people will take this in or not (depending on what they expected). Still, this is the approach that Mac felt he need to take. With a sea of success and subsequent criticism, there were things he had to do. Mac Miller proved that he can still rhyme, have fun, and make albums with at least a little substance. With that alone, Watching Movies With The Sound Off is an effective second full length go round.