For the second time in the seven years since his death, Mac Miller fans have the chance to listen to a new album. The US rapper was 26 when he died from an accidental overdose in 2018. Friends say he was lost in his prime and fans’ hunger for new music has remained.
“Balloonerism”, released on Friday to generally positive reviews, follows the 2020 posthumous release of Circles, made of unfinished work completed after he died. Circles was a big success but a mixed reception to recent posthumous albums from other artists has caused critics to question whether less is more when it comes to releasing music after death. Collaborators say the studio tracks first laid down more than 10 years ago used in the new album have barely been changed.
Miller wrote “Balloonerism” between labels in 2014 with producer Eric Dan, who worked with Miller since he was a teenager. “Balloonerism” was originally conceived by Miller amidst the making of his 2013 album “Watching Movies With The Sound Off” and his 2014 mixtape “Faces”. Yet, it was shelved at the time as those projects took precedence. Miller eventually moved on creatively to new ideas. Bootleg leaks of unfinished versions of the project’s songs have circulated on the internet since.
The album and accompanying animated short film seem to bring to life a part of Miller that actually existed, rather than guessing how he would have continued on. A tambourine solo to begin the album, SZA remaining the only voice on the project besides Miller himself and a grand total of only six producers officially credited on the album (all of which were there for the original recordings), this album has a lot for fans to sink their teeth into.
Much like how “Swimming” and “Circles” act as companion pieces to one another, “Balloonerism” sounds like a prequel to the project that eventually became “Faces”. Tracks like “Stoned,” “Funny Papers,” “Rick’s Piano”—”Rick” as in Rick Rubin—and especially “Tomorrow Will Never Know” all echo similar underlying themes, instrumentation and the off-the-wall nature that embodies Faces.
Around the same time Balloonerism was recorded, Mac produced “Warm Winds” and “UR” off of SZA’s 2014 debut EP, Z. “DJ’s Chord Organ” is their first collaboration since, despite its official release over a decade later. The song represents a full circle moment. After his passing in 2018, SZA lauded the late-Miller as a “forever genuine friend.” “You were the first person I met when I moved here. You let me come over every day and let me be whoever I wanted,” she wrote in an Instagram post. [Mac was] “the first person to believe in me and make stuff with me.”
The film accompanying “Balloonerism” begins from within a piano—which is then shot off into the universe landing near a children’s playground. On the playground, you are introduced to the film’s protagonist, Little Timmy with the broken arm (who looks much like an animated child version of Miller himself). He plays amongst his friends as Miller’s track “Excelsior” plays in the background. Little Timmy and his friends eventually find the piano and are cast off into a fantasy wonderland where they become various types of animated animals. This all seems to be indicating Miller constantly craved this return to youthful wonderment and could only find it through music. The estate’s handling of Mac’s legacy has not gone unnoticed to longtime fans
