More than 16 months after his unexpected death, a brand new album has been announced by the family of Mac Miller.
Circles will serve as the first posthumous record from the rapper, born Malcolm McCormick. It will be released next Friday, Jan. 17.
The news was issued on Wednesday morning via Miller’s personal Instagram page. It marked the account’s first sign of activity since he was alive.
In their statement, the McCormick family revealed that before his death, Miller was “well into the process” of recording Circles with musician and record producer Jon Brion, who recently completed the album.
After Miller’s death, Brion “dedicated himself to finishing Circles based on his time and conversations with Malcolm,” according to the post.
The 56-year-old producer was a previous collaborator of Miller’s and co-wrote a majority of the tracks from his previous album, Swimming (2018).
The McCormick family wrote that Circles was always intended to be a “companion album” to Swimming.
“Swimming in Circles was the concept,” they said.
The family described the records as “two different styles” that “complement each other” and “complete a circle.”
“We are eternally grateful to Jon and to those who gave their best to the difficult and emotional task of putting out this body of work,” the family wrote.
“This is a complicated process that has no right answer. No clear path. We simply know that it was important to Malcolm for the world to hear it.”
Miller died at the age of 26 on Sept. 7, 2018.
Since his death, the critically acclaimed musician has been featured on two additional singles: the Free Nationals’ Time and That’s Life by 88-Keys.
Circles will be released worldwide on Jan. 17.
Any updates or information regarding the album or future releases can be found here.