Balloonerism – the second posthumous Mac Miller release since 2020’s Circles – released on January 15th, two days before what would have been the late rapper’s 33rd birthday. Miller recorded the bulk of the album between 2013 and 2014, around the same time as the release of Mac’s hit mixtape Faces. However, due to Faces and other albums of his taking priority during this time, Balloonerism ultimately ended up on the shelf. With his tragic passing in 2018, it fell to Mac’s estate to finish putting together these recordings, and they did a fantastic job. In my experience, many posthumous rap albums feel like shameless cash grabs by the record company to make more money off of an artist’s name. However, with both Circles and Balloonerism, you can tell that an incredible amount of care has gone into seeing Mac’s vision through. The parts that his estate had to recreate sound very true to his sound, and for the most part you can’t even tell that Balloonerism is posthumous.
I found the music itself incredible. A lot of the songs here were almost completed anyways, with the album being so close to finishing that Mac had already commissioned artwork for the cover. In fact, one of the producers claimed that Balloonerism was “largely untouched” compared to Circles. The psychedelic production lends the project atmospheric and somewhat eerie sound that only magnifies the impact of the incredible beats. Mac’s painfully ironic lyricism shines on this album, with many of the songs tackling heavy subject matter like death and depression. Rumors persist that Mac lingered in a very dark place mentally during the recording of this album, and you can definitely hear that. His lyrics reflect a bleak and desperate outlook throughout. “Do You Have A Destination” and “Funny Papers” exemplify this. “Yeah, somebody died today,” Miller sings on the latter. “I saw his picture in the funny papers, didn’t think anybody died on a Friday.” The lyric hits harder knowing that Mac himself tragically passed on a Friday. I was also very struck by the lyricism in “Do You Have A Destination,” where Mac sings about waking up as a celebrity, but still feeling bad about himself and finding that none of the fame makes him happy.
The opening tracks, “Tambourine Dream” and “DJ’s Chord Organ,” set the mood for the album perfectly. “Tambourine Dream” features less than a minute of Mac messing around with a tambourine, so the album doesn’t really start until track 2. “DJ’s Chord Organ” really gets the album going with some beautiful SZA vocals and organ parts that Mac played using singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston’s organ. The way that the song starts with him playing the different chords on the organ before everything falls into place really makes it one of the most beautiful songs on the album. “Do You Have a Destination,” “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” and “Friendly Hallucinations” all follow shortly thereafter. These 3 sound a lot like 2014 era Mac with great vocals, memorable choruses, and heartfelt lyrics about feeling detached from the world and wanting more out of your life. Mac wears his heart on his sleeve throughout Balloonerism, dealing with topics like drug use, mental health, and death. The songwriting makes for the album’s calling card, with his most chilling and haunting verses even more heart wrenching by our knowledge of his fate. “Stoned” and “Funny Papers” mark two more major highlights towards the middle of the album. “Stoned” has a similar sound to the previous three I talked about, with a memorable chorus and jazzy beat. “Funny Papers” is one of my favorites on the album. Its dark and introspective lyrics deal with mortality and how life doesn’t last forever. I love its interiority, and I find it one of the best made songs in his discography.
The final two songs define what make this album so special to me and put this project ahead of the rest of his albums. In “Rick’s Piano,” Mac raps about his reluctance to embrace his fame, and sounds optimistic for the future of his career, with the line “The best is yet to come” chiming in between verses. However, the song takes a dark turn towards the end with him repeating the chorus, “What does death feel like?” over and over. Death and mortality take center stage in Balloonerism and to see Mac questioning death even in what feels like the most optimistic song of the album really shows us how his mental state was during the creation of the album.
This song is immediately followed by possibly the least optimistic and darkest song ever released of his. The behemoth “Tomorrow Will Never Know” clocks in at 12 minutes and features his most experimental and abstract sound to date. It’s the most emotionally heavy song on the album by far. It has some super poetic lyrics about feeling like you’re drowning and contemplating what life is like after death. The instrumentals are chilling. The recurring voicemail message is there to represent someone still receiving phone calls after passing but being unable to answer them. It weirdly foreshadows his actual passing, with the rumors that his ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande called him over 900 times after learning about his death.
There’s something about hearing the automatic voicemail message that just sounds so haunting, as if we’re still trying to communicate with him and come to terms with Miller’s death. We also hear the sound of children playing in the background, which feel a lot like someone looking back on their childhood and reminiscing about simpler times. It feels like we’re witnessing this song from the perspective of a now deceased Mac Miller, which makes this song especially heartbreaking. The entire second half of the song features this looping instrumental, creating a hypnotizing atmosphere that lingers with you long after it ends. When I first heard it I just had to sit in silence for a bit to process what I had just heard. It is a beautifully sad way to end the album.
Overall, this album is already my favorite album of his. The beats feel very raw and match well with Mac’s super introspective and dark lyricism. It is already a super strong candidate for the best album of 2025 and certainly will find a spot among the best of the 2020s as well. For all Mac Miller fans, and even non-Mac Miller fans, it is an emotionally challenging listen that you will certainly not regret. Rest In Peace Mac Miller.
Best Songs: Tomorrow Will Never Know, Rick’s Piano, Funny Papers, Stoned, DJ’s Chord Organ, 5 Dollar Pony Rides
Weakest Song: Transformations (feat. Delusional Thomas)
Final Score: 9.2/10
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