In honor of deceased American rapper, Mac Miller, the album ‘Balloonerism’ was released two days before the same time of what would have been his 33rd birthday. The album is a collection of 14 tracks that Miller worked on in 2013 and 2014, compiled and published by Miller’s estate. Reportedly, these ten-year-old tracks have barely been changed which BBC described as, “haunting, raw, and unpolished.”
During the release of Tyler, The Creator’s “Camp Flog Gnaw”, on November 16, 2024, the album was teased with an animated trailer. Then, five days later it was officially announced on social media. On January 17, the album was released in all its glory. Fans hadn’t received new music from Miller since 2020 when his first posthumous album, ‘Circles’, dropped. The album includes features such as popular R&B singer, SZA, and one of Miller’s pseudonyms, “Delusional Thomas.” Miller’s family has spoken on the importance of this project to him before his passing and his decision to not release at first, stating that he wanted to release it but it was “lower on the priority list compared to albums including ‘GO:OD AM’ and everything that came after it.” Producer Josh Berg commented: “I have loved this album so intensely since the moment it was created and it has haunted me ever since.”
Track one, “Tambourine Dream” is a 33 second instrumental of Miller playing the tambourine, an instrument commonly used in his music. While the track seems unnecessary, it introduces the album by inviting Miller’s creativity and love for music onto the scene. This song makes clear the unique, artsy feel of the album to come.
Track two is one of my personal favorites, “DJ’s Chord Organ”. As a big fan of both SZA and Miller, this song satisfied my needs and met my expectations. It begins with little adlibs and chords that properly introduce this five minute tune. As the beat begins to kick in the lyrics, “watch the world go ‘round and ‘round/ and ‘round and ‘round,” can be heard faintly gradually growing louder. You can hear both Miller and SZA using their voices to create a serene listening experience. After two and a half minutes of those lyrics, SZA comes in with her powerful, quirky voice. Her voice carries over a smooth chord organ beat with lyrics that seem to hold secrets. After her part, in comes a new variation of the beat with an eccentric twist. Miller ends the song with his beautifully strained and emotional vocalization.
The third track “Do You Have A Destination?” begins with Miller excitedly opening the song saying, “Let’s get started/ Woo, you can feel it.” Then, he goes into his usual style of rap with an alternative jazz spin. This song reminds me so much of prime Miller in songs like “So It Goes” or “Soulmate”, from previous albums. I love how original and authentically “him” this song feels, it captures the things that set him apart as an artist such as his overall vision and passion for the musical scene. This song seems to provoke the question of “do you know where you’ll be when it’s all over” and when listened to closely, can really sink into the hearts and minds of Miller fans. This track is ultimately my favorite just because of all the layers and artistic choices made to truly contribute to the usual Miller style.
“5 Dollar Pony Rides”, the lead single and fourth track, jumps right into a jazzy, upbeat tune with Miller singing over it. This song is the most animated and lively track on this record with Miller having breaks of what seems like scatting every once in a while. It ends with a smooth, soulful beat. The instruments behind this track create an imaginative world of creativity through the art of music and make this song special.
“Friendly Hallucinations” is a track that holds deeper meaning when truly digested. This song describes the relationship between substances and the false sense of ecstasy and comfort they provide with lyrics like, “There’s a paradise waiting on the other side of the dock.” However, despite the euphoria substances provide, Miller brings up how they cause humans to detach from the world around them. While the song has a more somber and heavy meaning, it still contains yet another funky pop and jazz beat with SZA (faintly) backing Miller up on both the chorus and outro of the song.
The sixth track, “Mrs. Deborah Downer”, creates a “melancholic and introspective vibe” along with self-reflective aspects of Miller’s life, as described by Stay Free Radio. He expresses a sense of loss and confusion in the world and his role in it saying, “All roads lead to the same confusion.” One of my favorite lines in the song captures this imagery and metaphor of society tearing people down stating, “Even pills turn to powder/the world wanna crush ‘em down.” The deeper meaning behind those lyrics resonates with the whole overarching idea of identity within this album and ties back to “Do You Have A Destination”, questioning where one should go and where they will end up, leading to the legacy they leave behind.
For track seven, Miller introduces another theme of escapism through substances. “Stoned” is a song about just what it seems like, a woman escaping her problems through using and abusing substances. However, rather than tearing down the idea of using substances as an escape, Miller seems to be inviting both the idea and the woman to “get stoned”, saying that being high feels like home. This particular track seems almost contradictory to others with the idea of substances in a happier tone.
“Shangri-La”, the title of the eighth track, means an imaginary and beautiful far away place. This song has a history with Miller’s career as a celebrity, beyond the musical world. The beat is believed to be a rhythm previously heard on an episode of the show, “Shangri-La”, that Miller was on. However, now the beat is completed and compiled with lyrics speaking of running away from problems searching for a better life. One of the most haunting parts of this song is the direct confrontation between Miller and death as he continues to reflect on his issues wishing peace for both himself and others. “If I’m dying young, promise you’ll smile at my funeral”, is a lyric that is hard to listen to with the knowledge of his death, no matter how many years have gone by.
“Funny Papers” is Miller’s take on the negative and positive aspects of the newspaper and the chaos which it often ensues in the world. Track nine creates a false sense of simplicity of society and the world around us and how the truth behind our lives and what we go through is so temporary. This song shows how invasive and off-putting people are today, exploiting others’ lives for a little entertainment factor. The view of serenity in the stillness is another large theme in this song as Miller mentions only feeling true peace when in a “deep sleep,” along with the idea of naivety within the world “that’ll screw ya.” Miller’s artistry with his view on the world and its darkness is so developed and utterly beautiful despite the sad reality some of the lyrics hold. My favorite lyric in the song is, “Why’d she bring these bright eyes into this dark place?/Oh, sweet, sweet oblivion,” which reminds me of a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” (“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”)
The tenth track, “Excelsior”, holds meaning even within the title. The word “excelsior” means “higher” in Latin, throughout this song Miller speaks days as a kid saying, “Whatever happened to apple juice and cartwheels?” The whole song talks about the dreams that die along with adulthood, like Miller’s of wanting to be a wizard before life became more serious. “Excelsior” glorifies childlike wonder and innocence which disappears with the growth of the pains of adulthood.
Delusional Thomas features on “Transformations”, track 11. Alongside his pseudonym, Miller uses Thomas as the “devil on the shoulder” archetype. The high-pitched voice that Delusional Thomas represents was originally heard on his sophomore album, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off”, originally depicted as the inner thoughts of Miller. The song itself has a darker connotation with a heavier beat, harsher lyrics, and even a more ominous vocalistic style. The voice is heard saying things like, “I’m a psychopathic thinker,” showcasing the inner battle of Miller’s mind between sanity and insanity.
“Manakins” is a song that explains the judgement and guilt Miller feels when making irresponsible decisions. Track 12 explains the feeling of God watching over Miller as he continues to do bad things within his life, believing the more bad God sees the sooner he feels he will “see the light at the end of the tunnel,” like God is trying to speak to him. However, Miller seems to not know what to do and how to change his life after the long, dark road he followed. The song also seems to express the way society wears the masks that make those around them accept each other saying, “You wear the garments, everybody needs to dress some manakins,” showing how we become puppet-like to the opinions of others.
The second to last track, “Rick’s Piano”, is one of the most positive songs on the album. While it still has some more mature and dark aspects, Miller repeats “the best is yet to come” all throughout the song. This song is a depiction of the depression and substance abuse Miller struggled with in 2014, and how he made it out. The title, “Rick’s Piano” is an homage to Miller’s friend Rick Rubin who helped him get out of a dark place and helped Miller recover his life which was slipping away at the time. This song features heavy keyboard use which contributes to the beautiful composition of the song coupled with ideas of hope, happiness, and healing from the thought of death.
“Tomorrow Will Never Know”, the final track, is the perfect close to this masterpiece of an album. It is believed that Miller created this song in 2013 after mentioning a ten minute song he crafted with HardKnockTV (a video production company), Miller himself described it as “dreamy” and “ambient” and I have to agree. Miller abstractly raps about a new beginning and his dreams and you can later hear a voicemail sound playing in the background as songs that were never picked up. The last six minutes of the song includes amazing musicality which creates an even more psychedelic vibe to close both the song and the record. One of the most powerful lyrics from the song and my personal favorite is, “The pressure is building like buildings you jump from,” a deep and striking line. The song seems to even represent the loss of hope after waiting and trying to hold on for so long. It’s almost sad to recognize this song could even explain Miller’s own life.
‘Balloonerism’ is one of the most artistic, abstract, and musically diverse albums that I have ever heard. I believe that this captured the essence of Miller in every way possible from his upbeat, jazzy, stylistic ways to his slower and more sentimental sounds. Despite the fact that multiple songs on the album are unfinished, they are whole in the essence they capture. This record still covers deep topics and subjects through the usage of inventive musicality aspects that listeners can connect this album with their soul through. It seems as though Miller’s mind, heart, and soul were compiled into one album and extracted into one heavenly record; ‘Balloonerism’ truly is sensational.
