Balloonerism
Posthumous rap albums can often feel opportunistic: indiscriminate grab bags cobbled together for one last payday. But *Balloonerism*—the second album from the beloved musician since his death in 2018, released two days ahead of what would have been his 33rd birthday—is far from an assemblage of cutting-room floor scraps. Culled from a single week of extended jam sessions (according to close collaborators), the album is considered to be Mac Miller’s “lost project,” recorded between his 2013 album *Watching Movies with the Sound Off* and his 2014 mixtape *Faces*—arguably the most pivotal year of his creative evolution. “It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm, to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it,” read a statement from Miller’s estate confirming the official release in fall 2024, noting the unofficial bootleg versions that have circulated through the years. There’s only one voice besides Miller’s across *Balloonerism*’s 14 deep and dreamy tracks—that of SZA, his longtime friend, who appears on “DJ’s Chord Organ,” a heady track credited to Miller’s production alter ego Larry Fisherman that borrows a chord organ once belonging to lo-fi folk hero Daniel Johnston. Otherwise, Miller goes his own way, probing life’s great mysteries with modesty and good humor. The rattle of a tambourine echoes through the album, produced in part by Thundercat, as do Miller’s preoccupations with death as a concept, a puzzle, a voyeuristic spectacle, and, finally, life’s ultimate trip. “What does death feel like?” he wonders repeatedly on “Rick’s Piano,” believed to have been recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio. And on the hushed and haunting epic “Tomorrow Will Never Know,” he looks down at himself from a distant God’s-eye view and arrives at the enlightened conclusion: “Living and dying are one and the same.”
Released seven years after his death, Balloonerism is an emotive and plaintive testament to Mac Miller’s lasting legacy and reminds us of the profound impact he’s had on shaping rap
Unlike your typical bucket-scraping rattlebag of audio oddities thrown together to con extra cash from grieving fans, this record feels complete and cohesive
Mac Miller worked at an incredible pace. An artist who made dramatic stylistic leaps with each project, fans were left gasping at the rate of creative
Made during a difficult time in the late rapper’s life, this abandoned work captures the musicianship and introspection of his fertile mid-career