The wait is over for fans of Mac Miller as Friday the Mac Miller estate released his long awaited and second posthumous album “Balloonerism.” This album was one of the most difficult listens I’ve had.
Recorded over 10 years ago, this album gives us a peek into the mind and thought processes of Mac Miller. The production on this album feels bubbly but also melancholic due to themes such as drugs and life after death.
The best part about this album and what made it so hard for me to listen to is the emotional depth strewn through the album with deep topics being brought up in multiple songs in the album.
There are only two features on the album: SZA who was featured on “DJ’s Chord Organ” and Mac Miller’s alter ego “Delusional Thomas on “Transformations.” The lack of features on the album is a perfect choice that gives Miller the room to share point of view on things with the focus being on what he has to say.
The standout track on the album has to be “Manakins” where Miller raps about how God is always watching you. In the chorus, he sings that he has the feeling that he is going to die. “Cause I see the light at the end of the tunnel / It feels like I’m dyin’, dyin’, dyin’ / I’m dead.”
“Manakins” is the most emotional and vulnerable Miller has been although all of the other songs on the album can be just as raw.With Miller passing away in 2018 at the age of 26 due to an accidental drug overdose, it makes the subject matter and everything he says hit a whole lot harder.
Two other tracks that really stood out were “Funny Papers” and “Rick’s Piano.” In “Funny Papers,” Miller talks about the up-and-down emotions of life through the guise of reading a newspaper, while also delving into topics in his own personal life.
In the “Rick’s Piano,” Miller contemplates death and what it feels like. He questions death multiple times during the chorus singing “What does death feel like? / What does, what does death feel like? / Oh, oh my God / What does death feel like?”.
“Balloonerism” is a great album with Miller open and honest in every song about himself and where he is at mentally.
In a world where most posthumous albums seem lazily put together and like exploitive cash grabs, this is one of the best posthumous albums Miller’s estate had to offer. I think Miller would’ve loved to see how this album turned out and the reception it has gotten if he was still with us today.
So far in the year 2025, this is one of the best albums this year has to offer, “Balloonerism” is a 10/10.