Mac Miller’s new track, “Blue World,” looks poised to be one of the biggest songs from his posthumous album, Circles. It debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has racked up over 150,000 page views on Genius since its release. Although the album has just one official feature, “Blue World” begins with some outside vocals, too.
The first lines on “Blue World” feature a harmony of voices singing:
It’s a blue world without you
It’s a blue world alone
As Genius contributor Shorttie notes in an annotation, this is a sample of “It’s A Blue World,” a 1950s song by The Four Freshmen. The jazz vocal quartet originated in Indianapolis, and released its first major label project, Voices in Modern, on Capitol Records in 1955. The project included “It’s A Blue World,” which was originally put out as a vinyl single in 1952:
The Four Freshmen are often cited as an early influence on Brian Wilson and the complex production and arrangement skills he showcased on projects like The Beach Boys‘ groundbreaking Pet Sounds.
“Blue World” is produced by Guy Lawrence in his first collaboration with Mac. The UK producer (who serves as one half of duo Disclosure) has previously worked with artists like Khalid, Sam Smith, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Aminé, and more.
Listen to both songs above and read all the lyrics to Mac Miller’s “Blue World” and The Four Freshmen’s “It’s A Blue World” on Genius now.
