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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 17 January 2020
Review: Mac Miller posthumous

album is heartbreakingly full

By MARK KENNEDY
“Why does everybody
need me to stay?” Mac
Miller asks on the first single
from his latest release. He
answered his own question
with the superb posthu-
mous “Circle.”
Miller’s 12-track album is
heartbreakingly sublime, a
In this Dec. 1, 2017 file photo, Demi Lovato arrives at Jingle Ball at portrait of a wry and hon-
The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Lovato will perform the National est musician acknowledg-
Anthem at Super Bowl.
Associated Press ing his demons but looking
past them. “I’m here to
Demi Lovato to sing make it all better with a lit-
tle music for you,” he sings.
the national anthem Miller died of an accidental
drug overdose in 2018 at 26
at the Super Bowl and was working on “Cir-
cles” as a sort of compan-
ion album to his Grammy-
By The Associated Press public since focusing on nominated “Swimming.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Gram- her recovery after report- Producer Jon Brion, who
my-nominated pop singer edly overdosing in July worked on “Swimming”
Demi Lovato will perform 2018. The singer, who has and also produced for This cover image released by Warner Bros. shows "Circles" by
the national anthem at the spoken about her struggles Kanye West and Dido, was Mac Miller. Associated Press
Super Bowl. with an eating disorder, self- asked to finish Miller’s work.
NFL and Fox on Thursday mutilation, drugs and alco- “Circles” shares the ap- the backbone to “Blue anything left,” he sings.
announced the perfor- hol, celebrated six years of pealing confessional lyrics World,” a lazy drum and “So tired of being so tired.”
mance, which will take sobriety in March 2018. But of “Swimming” but is more piano do the same for “I Brion is rightly in no rush to
place ahead of the big she relapsed, revealing the airy, more muted and un- Can See.” A repeated “eh- end it, and lets Miller go for
game on Feb. 2 at Hard news in the song "Sober," derstated. Miller was al- uh” runs through “Hands” more than 5 1/2 minutes.
Rock Stadium in Miami. released in June 2018. ways an idiosyncratic art- and “Complicated” at first Listeners will naturally focus
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira A week before the Super ist, mixing hip-hop beats seems too simple but sub- on the references to death
will headline the halftime Bowl, Lovato will perform at and samples with soul sequent listens reveals a and they are definitely
show. Lovato has mostly the 2020 Grammy Awards and warm funk, even jazz. jewel-like construction. there. “Everybody’s gotta
taken a break from the on Jan. 26.q Here, he is low-key, moody, The first single, “Good live/And everybody’s gon-
spacey and anesthetized. News,” is addictive and na die,” he sings on “Ev-
Edgar Allan Poe He sings more than he raps. must surly be a defining erybody.” But he’s OK, too.
song for an artist taken far “I’ve been alright” and “I’m
There’s nothing flashy. Ev-
house in Baltimore erything’s thoughtful. too soon. Delicate guitar feelin’ fine.” His advice to
accompanies others? “Do not be afraid”
“Circles” is both spare but plucking
named literary landmark somehow full. A tiny hesi- Miller’s hangdog lyrics. and “take a little time for
tating sample serves at “Runnin’ out of gas, hardly yourself.” q
BALTIMORE (AP) — A na-
tional association repre- Lizzo, The Who, Foo Fighters
senting libraries is honoring
the Edgar Allan Poe House among 2020 Jazz Fest top acts
and Museum in Baltimore.
A division of the American By CHEVEL JOHNSON and April 30-May 3 — at Awards and was named
Library Association has Associated Press the Fair Grounds Race Entertainer of the Year by
added the Poe house to its NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Course. More than 650 The Associated Press and
national registry of Literary Who, Stevie Nicks and Foo bands covering many Time magazine.
Landmarks. The museum Fighters will join Lizzo, Lio- genres of music will per- Lizzo, who is also an ac-
will host a dedication cer- nel Richie, Lenny Kravitz, form on 14 stages during complished flautist, is
emony on Sunday, which The Avett Brothers and the eight-day event. scheduled to perform Sat-
coincides with the celebra- Elvis Costello at the 2020 Singer-rapper Lizzo domi- urday, May 2.
tion of the 211th anniver- New Orleans Jazz and nated the pop, R&B and Also scheduled to per-
sary of Poe's birth. Heritage Festival, organiz- rap charts in 2019 with form is Nicks, who missed
The house is the first liter- ers announced Thursday. songs like “Truth Hurts” the festival’s 50th anni-
ary site in Maryland to be This Dec. 4, 2008 file photo The festival, which annu- and “Good As Hell.” Her versary performance with
included in the registry, the shows the exterior of the Poe ally celebrates the cul- major-label debut, “Cuz I Fleetwood Mac, because
organization said. Previous house and Museum, a historic ture and heritage of New Love You,” garnered eight of illness. The band had
landmark in Baltimore.
dedications have includ- Associated Press Orleans and Louisiana Grammy Award nomina- been scheduled as a last-
ed the homes of Tennes- alongside performances tions, including album of minute replacement for
see Williams, Marjorie Kin- house as an adult from by national and interna- the year, song of the year, the Rolling Stones, which
nan Rawlings and William 1833 to 1835. It became a tional artists, is scheduled record of the year and also canceled because
Faulkner. museum in 1949 and was over two weekends in best new artist. She’s also Mick Jagger needed
The master of Gothic hor- designated a National His- the spring — April 23-26 up for six NAACP Image medical treatment.q
ror lived at the Baltimore toric Landmark in 1971. q