Mac Miller's producer Jon Brion "believes" Ariana Grande's vocals are on his posthumous album, 'Circles'.
Mac Miller and Ariana Grande
Since the release of the record on Friday (17.01.20), fans of the late rapper - who passed away in September 2018 at the age of 26 as a result of mixed drugs toxicity - have pointed out the vocals on 'I Can See' sound just like his ex-girlfriend's voice, and the man who oversaw the record has now agreed.
He said: "I believe there are."
The studio wizard insisted that whilst he has no official confirmation on whether or not it is Ariana, the song already existed.
Jon added to The New York Times: "Somebody just told me something about that, some kerfuffle.
"I mean, that was a pre-existing track.
"There were a few songs the family gave me that he'd been working on independently that I thought fit thematically with what we had worked on.
"'I Can See' was one of those ... I played some things on those tracks to make them feel like the others, but those vocals were already there. It wasn't like an executive decision or anything."
Mac - whose real name was Malcolm McCormick - dated Ariana between August 2016 and May 2018, and the pair had performed together on several occasions, including a duet of the rapper's 2016 track 'My Favorite Part' and 'The Way' from the pop superstar's 2013 LP 'Yours Truly'.
Upon the release of 'Circles', Ariana shared the album's artwork on her Instagram Stories.
Mac's family stated he envisioned the record as a "companion album" to his 2018 release 'Swimming'.
In a lengthy note posted to his Instagram account, his family wrote: "Here we are. The act of having to write this at all feels surreal. At the time of his passing, Malcolm was well into the process of recording his companion album to Swimming, entitled Circles. Two different styles complementing each other, completing a circle - Swimming in Circles was the concept.
"He had been working with Jon Brion, who after hearing some early versions of songs, cleared his calendar to help Malcolm fine-tune them. After his passing, Jon dedicated himself to finishing Circles based on his time and conversations with Malcolm. 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. (sic)"
They went on to state that deciding to release the work was a really tough decision.
They added: "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. One of the most difficult decisions in the process is how best to let people know about it - how to communicate meaningfully while keeping sacred what should be kept sacred. So this will be the only post on any of his channels. Information regarding this release, his charity, and Malcolm himself will be found at @92tilinfinity.
"Thank you to all the fans who've supported him unconditionally through the years. We miss him. We are left to imagine where Malcolm was going and to appreciate where he was. We hope you take the time to listen. The look on his face when everyone was listening said it all.
"With humility and gratitude. Malcolm's family (sic)"
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