Review: Mac Miller Floats Above Reality on 'Balloonerism'

Listen to this article

Two weeks ago, I spotlit the lead single from Balloonerism, “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” in our Best New Songs column, pointing out how Mac Miller’s death in 2018 has left a hole still vacant in the fabric of hip-hop. Sure, conscious emcees are a dime a dozen these days, but Mac was an artist far greater than that. My friends and I grew up toasting sodas to the youthful naivety of tracks like “The Spins” and “Don’t Mind If I Do.” He matured alongside us with the angst on “Angels (When She Shuts Her Eyes)” and the disillusioned malaise throughout Watching Movies with the Sound Off (2013). I learned love from The Divine Feminine (2016), and I sobbed when “2009” played for the first time (but who didn’t?). Paraphrasing my past words, Mac Miller brought hopefulness to hip-hop, presenting his struggles earnestly, honestly and gently, and that perspective has been sorely missed since his passing.

However, Balloonerism offers one final glance into the clouded mind of Mac Miller. Recorded during the same sessions as his 2014 mixtape Faces, the album was scrapped following a deal with what used to be Warner Bros. Records— a partnership that would eventually yield his first major label debut, 2015’s GO:OD AM. This period was one of limbo for the Pittsburgh rapper, evidenced by the drastically varying sounds throughout both Faces, GO:OD AM and his 2013 alter ego mixtape Delusional Thomas, who’s also featured on Balloonerism.

Most Popular

Now able to put these records side by side, I understand the decision to shelve Balloonerism. GO:OD AM was an album comprised solely of hits, foregoing the melancholy and focusing on witty bars, bumping beats and big name features from Miguel, Ab-Soul, Chief Keef and Lil B. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, instantly catapulting him into celebrity status. Meanwhile, Faces saw Mac at his most unfiltered and experimental, blending hazy, atmospheric percussion with surrealist storytelling more akin to a lucid dream than a mixtape. It was the antithesis to every production decision on GO:OD AM—the right brain to GO:OD AM’s left—and served as an abstract snapshot of Mac’s struggles while wrestling with A-list fame, drug addiction and his own identity as both a rapper and an individual. Between two divisive bodies of work, Balloonerism was the odd one out—a completed idea that just didn’t quite fit anywhere.

With the blessing of Mac’s estate though, Balloonerism finally got to see the light of day, releasing exactly five years after his first posthumous album Circles, and two days before what would have been his 33rd birthday. It’s a journey through Mac’s abstruse inner psyche, balancing vulnerability with bursts of optimism and hints at the more nuanced sounds he would go on to explore with Swimming and Circles.

Songs like “DJ’s Chord Organ” with SZA (newly signed to TDE at the time) and “Do You Have A Destination?” set the tone for the record with their woozy drums, soft piano trills and distant vocal harmonies. The production is intentionally off-balance, as if the songs are slowly floating out of reach like, well, a balloon. But, as SZA and Mac harmonize and sing, “Watch the world go ‘round, and ‘round, and ‘round, and ‘round,” I feel like I am the balloon, drifting further and further up into the sky. The follow-up track, “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” regrounds itself in a sublime Thundercat bass groove as Mac plays off the idea of getting a pony for his girl that always asked for one and never got it. It’s an especially lighthearted moment on the record and underscores one of Mac’s brightest qualities as a musician: his ability to turn negativity into joy.

All over Balloonerism, Mac touches on his depression, the proverbial rain cloud over his head that won’t leave him alone, yet he speaks about it all with a smile on his face. He laughs and finds solace in how far he’s come, confident that he’s better now. This silver lining approach extends far beyond Balloonerism though. Even his earliest songs, however steeped in partying and drug abuse they were, insinuated a sad yet cunning self-awareness in his actions. Tracks like “Stoned” and “Shangri-La” remind me of the K.I.D.S. song “Face In The Crowd,” where each line overtly contradicts the one before. He raps, “I’ve been up and I’ve been down, thought I was the coolest motherfucker around, but I’m just another face in the crowd.” Even four years later on Balloonerism, Mac’s bravado seems to be a veil for his anxieties—an act he puts on as a form of escapism.

For fans of Mac’s more laid-back pieces, Balloonerism delivers on all fronts. It’s not a record of hits, or up-tempo bangers, nor is it a collection of teary eyed, orchestral ballads, but instead shines brightest in the twilight. Nestled halfway down the tracklist, “Funny Papers” encapsulates this ambiguity perfectly. It’s an unassuming deep cut of twinkling pianos and boom-bap drums, tied together by a snappy hook: “If I could just pay my rent by Tuesday, I bet I’d be rich by April Fools’ day, the moon’s wide awake with a smile on his face, as he smuggle constellations in his suitcase.” It’s subtle moments like this, scattered throughout the album, that make Balloonerism so easy and comforting to return to.

At the tail end of the run time comes “Rick’s Piano,” a song I was not prepared for on a record like this. The track opens on a carefree Rick Rubin-centric knock knock joke, but Mac’s verses become quickly and eerily prophetic, asking outright about the existence of heaven and promising that “the best is yet to come.” “Rick’s Piano” is a beautiful semi-farewell to the album, but does little in the way of emotional closure over Mac’s death. Can I truly believe that the best is yet to come when this could very well be the last music Mac ever releases? Regardless, it’s a hopeful note to go out on, and I like to think that’s how Mac would want to be remembered—as a beacon of hope.

Gavyn Green is a freelance writer and undergraduate Music Industry major attending Drexel University. His work has appeared in publications including Paste and WXPN.

Mac Miller Floats Above Reality on Balloonerism

The rapper’s second posthumous album shows emerging moments of musical soul-searching while staying tethered to the ingenious rhymes of his early career.