With love in the air this time of year, my mind was naturally drawn to the first album I think of when I hear the word: Mac Miller’s fourth studio album, “The Divine Feminine.” While I’ve listened to it before, I had never sat down to actually process and consider every aspect of the album. 10 songs later, I can say that this is, without a doubt, one of Mac Miller’s most underrated albums in his career.
Starting off strong with “Congratulations” as the introduction to the album, this song sets the stage for what’s to come: conversations of love, longing, and desire. Miller’s signature raps over the soft piano crescendo into the second half of the song, where we hear about the beauty in normalcy with a partner and how the most simple aspects of life are amazing when he’s with this girl. Bilal leads the outro with soothing, angel-like vocals while singing “I found an angel so divine/ Heaven probably not the same without you/ But now you’re in my world,” furthering the album’s main idea of a divine woman deserving of worship and devotion.
The album’s second track, “Dang!” features Anderson .Paak is a multi-Grammy-winning artist, producer, and songwriter. With a bubbly and vibrant beat, the duo approaches the topic of losing in love and attempting to win their girls back, allowing their sensitive and caring sides to be shown in order to do so. We slow down with “Stay” and “Skin” immediately after, two tracks illuminating the beauties of sex and love with one another. The outro to “Stay” brings me back to “Fight The Feeling,” a 2012 release featuring Kendrick Lamar and Iman Omari. Both songs end on a very intimate note, and to me, almost seem like staples in Miller’s music.
We reach the halfway point of the album with “Cinderella,” an eight-minute track featuring Ty Dolla $ign. Sampling Tokyo Police Club’s “Tessellate,” we’re taken along for an ode to Miller’s personal Cinderella, a girl who’s the perfect fit. His and Ty Dolla $ign’s verses talk about waiting patiently for this girl to be ready to be together, a detail many listeners pointed out as a reference to Ariana Grande, Miller’s girlfriend of 2 years. The couple met in 2012 and first collaborated in 2013, but didn’t date until 2016. Miller paints vivid images of his desire and affection for his lover, and then the song transitions into its second part. The vibe slows down and shifts into something much more tender and delicate, and we hear Miller directly announce his love and dedication to this girl; she makes everything better and supports him in recovering from his addictions and changing his overall way of living.
A highlight of this album is all its collaborations, with artists like Njomza on “Planet God Damn” and CeeLo Green on “We,” to name a couple. These two tracks are smooth and enchanting, conveying the nostalgia and confusion that come along with past and present relationships alike. “Soulmate” is sandwiched between these two tracks and is a song I see as severely underrated. A monologue from “Good Will Hunting” opens everything up and is heard throughout the remainder of the song, a raw and honest confession of Miller’s desire to be completely connected with another person. The song describes this partnership as “divine love” and is the epitome of yearning for something beautiful and real.
We close out the album with “My Favorite Part,” the penultimate song, and “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty,” featuring Ariana Grande and Kendrick Lamar, respectively. The former is a sweet, heartfelt duet between the couple, one of three tracks made in collaboration with each other. The latter, a strong, sexy ballad, closes out the album and channels the idea of a divine woman existing in Miller’s life and being more than he deserves. The song is sensual, a message dedicated to everything about this girl and declaring his utter obsession with every part of her. He demonstrates his devoutness with lyrics like “Your divinity has turned me into a sinner/ God is fair/ And your beauty/ Can even make hell have a winter,” and Kendrick’s hook carries this idea through the end of the song. One Genius contributor wrote, “Mac Miller is demonstrating to his lover (likely through sex) that their connection is the joining of Divine love and Animal lust; it’s human nature.” We’re led out of the experience that is “The Divine Feminine” with an anecdote from Marcia Weiss, Miller’s grandmother. She tells the story of how she met her husband and fell in love with him, ultimately a step into Miller being brought into this world. Her experience is used as an example of true love and how, if you nurture it correctly, you can keep it alive and growing for years to come. The phrase “Love is patient, love is kind” comes to mind when I think of this outro, and while I don’t consider myself particularly religious, I think it holds true to the message being left here.
This album, a collection of the experiences Miller had with love during his life, is also a love letter to the women who made him into who he was. It’s a “thank you” in the form of retellings of passion, pain, and longing he experienced with them, and we see what love has been for him and what it can be going forward. From the outside, many have taken this project as nothing more than retellings of lust and desire, and while I do think part of it IS that (because there’s nothing wrong with sensuality and sexual experiences), I think it’s ultimately about love in every form and emotion there is.
To Mac Miller, there is nothing more holy and sacred than “The Divine Feminine,” and he expresses that through the very making of this album. My top 3 off this album have to be “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty,” “Cinderella,” and “Skin,” but I honestly believe every track is amazing in its own regard. This gem in the treasure chest that is Miller’s discography shines the brightest to me, coming off as raw and sincere when I first listened to it at 13 and even more so at 20. It’s timeless, vulnerable, and a beautiful staple of Mac Miller’s legacy.