Ron Barrera

Video Content Producer

Photo Via Pitchfork

January 17, 2025 marks a pivotal moment in Mac Miller’s discography. Despite spending nearly a decade in the shadows of the internet, Balloonerism has finally emerged as one of the most honest posthumous tributes to the artist. This mixtape takes us on a raw and poetic journey; exploring themes of lost innocence, addiction, and the longing to recapture the magic of childhood. It’s a powerful reminder that even in his darkest moments, Mac Miller had the power to transform his pain into art.

What was long considered Mac’s “lost album” is a time capsule that transports us back to 2014. Balloonerism was born alongside Faces during an intense jam session in March of that year. In over two weeks, his fanbase believes that Mac created more than four albums because of multiple song leaks on the Internet, marking a significant departure from the hip-hop genre and delving into a more intimate and experimental sonic landscape.

This collection of songs that never saw the light of day served as a precursor for what would later become one of Mac’s most acclaimed mixtapes, Faces (2015), where he explored drug use and the subsequent detachment from reality. This period marked a significant shift in Mac’s artistic evolution; leaving behind his earlier works and embracing the complex relationship between his art and addiction. However, several leaks from those jam sessions began circulating online, sparking rumors of an unreleased mixtape. These leaks gained more traction and recognition within the fandom after Mac’s passing in 2018. Many of these tracks were part of what became known as Balloonerism, which was left in limbo until his family and close collaborators decided to give it the final form it deserved.  

“Balloonerism was something that Malcolm frequently expressed as being important to him. We felt it was most important to present an official version of the project to the world.”

-Mac Miller’s family via social media

Ethical discussions were triggered by this formal release. Those closest to Mac reassured the public that this was a project he genuinely wanted to share, despite some questioning whether it was an opportunistic move. His sound engineer, Josh Berg, explained that Balloonerism was only arranged using the materials Miller had left behind and wasn’t “finished” after his passing. Only the mixing of the record was changed in order to preserve his artistic vision.

This album is more than just a set of songs; it’s a meticulously crafted soundtrack that floats between psychedelic abstraction and jazz-infused meditation, multilayered and engaging. It expands on the sonic experiments of Faces, blending warm production with layered instrumentation, his voice shifting between weary confessions and dreamlike echoes. The result is a hypnotic, free-flowing narrative that encapsulates the duality of his music: pain and beauty, destruction and transcendence.

The album guides us through his “highs”, both literal and metaphorical, as he goes upward, pushed by his addictions, until he inevitably “pops” upon reaching an unsustainable limit, an explosion that serves as a metaphor for his tragic fate:  death by overdose.

The song “Tomorrow Will Never Know” closes the album with a constantly ringing phone, which could symbolize Mac’s family and friends desperately trying to reach him upon hearing the news of his overdose. As his voice fades away, the sound lingers, and his death becomes real the moment the listener hangs up the phone, so one lets it ring and ring.This artistic choice is symbolizing how Mac had 952 missed calls from Ariana Grande that night”

The background sound of children’s voices in this song represents his final moments of clarity; a fleeting return to childhood. It’s the final flash before death; a return to a moment untouched by addiction.  Mac emphasizes once again that childhood was the last time he truly enjoyed life without the burden of substance abuse. The outro suggests an ascension, as if Mac is rising toward the heavens or the afterlife, completing the metaphor of the balloon that gives the project its name. 

Balloonerism stands as an exemplary tribute to a   legacy. This is not an empty attempt to exploit his name, but an honest reflection of his art and his mind. Miller was always ahead of his time, creating music that felt limitless, deeply personal, and ever-evolving. This project is both a gift and a heartbreak, proof of his brilliance, but also a reminder of everything we lost when he passed. The album doesn’t just put a close to his discography; it leaves us suspended with more questions: How would his music have evolved? What else would he have shared with us? What stories would he have told?Hearing his voice again, so alive, so present, feels surreal, like opening a letter from someone you thought was gone forever but for these 60 minutes, he is Swimming with us. Balloonerism is a bridge between who he was and who he could have been, a space where past and present exist at once. He left us too soon, but Miller will always live on through his music, and this album is a testament to that enduring presence.