Macklemore – “Gemini”

By: Ryan Smith

Going solo after a long period of having someone else be a big part of your life can be tough- whether it’s a relationship, a best friend, or in this case, a musical collaborator. His first solo album since 2005, Macklemore has shown that with his solo return to the scene with “Gemini” that it’s good to go back to your roots sometimes- those roots being yourself. This isn’t to say that he’s completely alone- in fact, every song but “Ten Million” has a feature on it. But don’t let that deter you from listening to this piece of art. From the get go, Macklemore lets us know that he has returned, as the opening line to “Glorious” (ft Skylar Grey) says “You know I’m back, like I never left”- a feeling that we’ve longed for since his last solo work. The rest of the album dabbles into different vibes that change from song to song- the trap feel of “Willy Wonka”, along with the nicely delivered Offset feature, to the almost Future sounding “How to Play the Flute” featuring King Draino. But perhaps one of (if not the) most talked about song from the album is “Good Old Days”, the piano chord soul tugging song featuring Kesha, in yet another long awaited return from another well known and well liked name in the music industry. This album is not one that you want to miss out on- the different themes throughout the album that Macklemore discusses leave the listener with an urge to take a step back and really appreciate all that we have in life.