Mac Miller's Swimming marked a pivotal point in the late artist's career. His devotion to constant sonic exploration and artistic reinvention had already been well-documented prior to the album's release - the quantum leap from his Billboard chart-topping debut Blue Slide Park to his sophomore album Watching Movies with the Sound Off, his tour de force as a producer on his 2014 mixtape Faces and ability to direct a full band on 2016's The Divine Feminine were evidence of his steadfast commitment to growth in his craft. Yet upon its release, Swimming was immediately understood by both his fans and critics alike as the high water mark of his career: an album that perfectly showcased the musical chops he had developed vocally and instrumentally over the course of a decade.