US hip hop prodigy Malcolm McCormick AKA Mac Miller will be celebrating the New Year in style when heads to Australia for the east coast run of his GO:OD AM album tour.
“I cannot wait – it’s going to be warm and Australia’s one of my most favourite places in the world,” Miller says enthusiastically. “We’re doing a couple of festivals before the New Year, then we bring in the New Year in Australia. I’m really excited to do my own shows and see what the crowds are like. I did a show before in Sydney with Snoop and the crowd went crazy, it was awesome.
“I’m not all the way sure what we’re going to be able to bring but it’s going to be intimate,” he adds. “I’m not trying to be arrogant, but the centrepoint of the show is me, so we don’t do too much crazy production – it’s just based around the interaction between me and the fans.”
Since releasing his first full-length album Blue Slide Park in 2011, Miller has cultivated and maintained a successful career as an independent artist. For GO:OD AM, however, he diverted from his modus operandi, deciding to sign with major label Warner Music as a way of reaching a wider global fan base.
“I think I just wanted to try something different,” he explains. “I’m 23 now; I’m getting ready to settle down, and it was time to link up with a company that could give me more of a global presence and do things worldwide.”
While signing to a major label can occasionally be a death warrant for an independent artist – at least in the fans’ eyes – Miller says his followers were extremely supportive of the transition, and he was able to maintain essential creative control over the project without interference from the label.
“I thought that when I signed I was going to get a bunch of angry fans saying, ‘Why would you do this?’ but instead my fans seem to really care about me, so I think they were just happy to see me up on my feet and doing things. I didn’t have anyone from the label set foot in the studio, which was awesome. So I really got lucky there and I got the chance to run my own project, because I wouldn’t have signed if it was any other way.”
By now, Miller has accumulated an extensive back catalogue of eclectic rap, hip hop, soul and R&B tracks across three albums and multiple self-produced mixtapes. GO:OD AM sees the Pennsylvanian moving into maturity, writing and producing from a more optimistic perspective compared to previous releases.
“I think there was a time when I was making a lot more melancholy records, just like mixtapes and my last album before this one. So I think this one functions a little more in the light, getting there and the journey there, rather than dwelling on any sense of darkness.
“Also, as far as stylistically and conceptually, I’m pretty nomadic in that sense where I don’t like to stay in one place a long time creatively. Maybe it’s because I’m young and I’m still finding my comfort zone, but I think it just keeps it exciting for me.”
With the Australian tour looming, Miller is clearly excited to get back here to party with his fans. “Just come ready and bring your energy,” he says. “Get a good night’s sleep before and make sure you’re ready to have an experience.”
Mac Miller plays the Enmore Theatre on Monday January 4.GO:OD AMis out now through Remember/Warner.
