Mac Miller, one of the most loved artists of his generation, dropped his second posthumous album Balloonerism. I was skeptical of this album at first as I usually am with most posthumous albums. I tend to think the family and greedy executives should let the dead rest and not try to finish an album on their own without the specific instructions of the artist. But alas, I wanted to listen to this album for the first time with an open mind.
Miller passed away in 2018 due to a drug overdose caused by unaddressed mental health issues which is a prevalent issue in the music industry. Nonetheless, he stayed true to his sound all the way up to the tragic end. These themes of self-destruction and isolationism become ever prevalent in his last album before his death, Swimming.
This album comes from the era of Mac set circa 2014. He decided to not work on Balloonerism, and instead worked on albums like Watching Movies with the Sound Off, GO:OD AM, my personal favorite album of this era, and Faces which is known as one of the best mixtapes of the 2010s.
Balloonerism starts with nothing but rattling tambourines. The second track of the record, “DJ’s Organ Cord” features SZA and serves as a tone-setter. It has out there lyrics speaking on driving without a destination, a common feeling on this album of running with no destination. The production of this song lets the listener understand that from this point on the production will be imaginative and abnormal.
This leads to “Do You Have a Destination?” which, despite Mac riding the high of his career of fame and money, he describes being lonely and miserable. Remarking, “I went to sleep famous and woke up invisible” highlighting how the music industry and fame in general turn a blind eye to an artist’s emotional issues. And with other chilling bars like “I gave my life to this sh$#, already killed myself” talking about how his work towards the music he makes is like killing himself because that is all he now has left. The production of this song is elaborate and has a slight hint of spookiness and haunting that continues over this whole album. This song also continues the theme of being lost and walking without a destination.

This leads to “Friendly Hallucinaitons” which focuses a girl who he seems to be infatuated with and who is undergoing a mental break. Even though he is talking about someone else he seems to be talking about some of his own struggles.
“Deborah Downers” continues the theme of escapism but focuses more on drugs and how he uses Downers to speak of them as a drug as a person.
The escapism through drugs theme continues in the track “Stoned” as he describes using weed as an escape tool. This track comes off as a more carefree, whimsical song compared to the others on this track. Past this halfway mark, the album goes in all directions but is still intriguing.
Skipping ahead, “Funny Papers” is one of the most beautifully composed and touching songs in this album. This track describes different stages of life as he talks about a baby being born and a man’s life falling apart after a divorce.
“Rick’s Piano” is a more hopeful track on this album with a more jazz-inspired beat. The lyrics speak of Miller not wanting people to tell him he made it because of his fear of becoming “jaded” or boring like anyone else. He also spoke of the best being yet to come, hence his fear of becoming jaded or boring when he accepts that he has made it after his large successes.
The final track on this album is “Tomorrow Will Never Know” which is almost 12 minutes long and explores the deep recesses of Mac’s mind. In the background, children are playing and the echoing of “your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging system” emphasizes how alone he feels. This might be one of Mac’s most emotional songs of his entire career. The drums and bass guitar go kind of all over the place during this track making it not my favorite instrumentals, but powerful nonetheless.
This album is extremely powerful with my favorite songs being “Funny Papers”, “Stoned” and “Do You Have a Destination”. I would recommend this album to people who are already familiar with Mac Miller and his works but wouldn’t to someone who hasn’t listened to him before, as the tone and complexity could scare some people away. I thought this album was amazing and extremely thought-provoking, leading me to rank it a 7.8.