Balloonerism
After 11 years we finally got it, Balloonerism, an Album by Mac Miller.
What a joy to finally be able to listen to a newly finished album released by the Mac Miller Estate. It was honestly everything I wanted it to be. For context, this album was in the works in between the creations of his album Watching Movies With the Sound Off and his mixtape Faces. It never saw the light of day because Mac Miller went on to make GO:OD AM and The Divine Feminine, more commercial-sounding projects.
The Mac Miller Estate before releasing Balloonerism in its complete version, described the album's release being “something Malcolm frequently expressed being important to him”. Who knew that time would be only a few years after his death?
Last night when Balloonerism dropped, we were greeted to its dark psychedelic atmosphere on its opening track “DJ’s Chord Organ” featuring SZA, the only feature on this project, where the two artists come together to create a masterpiece of a song. It is followed up with the personal track “Do You Have A Destination?” and “Mrs. Deborah Downer” where he begins questioning whether his way of living is correct, which is a concept played throughout the project as Mac tries to figure out how death works. In “Stoned” we get into Mac’s eyes in how he views his girlfriend as a reflection of himself as they both support each other's drug addictions, told in a catchy dark story. “Funny Papers” is my personal favorite from the project since it carries an everyday vibe, kind of felt like a calm walk outside, one of his most relaxed flows, an anthem for trying to deal with inconveniences, “I wish I could just pay my rent by Tuesday, I bet I’d be rich by April Fool's day”, hinting at Mac not being able to escape the race for financial freedom. Mac tries to bring out his inner child as he reminisces in his song “Excelsior” and how being a child is way better than becoming an adult, “All of this before the brain wash starts, Before they get polluted, start thinking like adults”. Then we get a cameo from Rick Rubin in “Rick’s Piano” as the two start the song off with extreme vibes and lead it into a positive-sounding song looking forward to the future, “the best is yet to come” straying away from the darker themes in the album as Mac is finally beginning to gain an understanding of how death works but questions, “what does death feel like?”. Then lastly, during the final song of the album, “Tomorrow Will Never Know” he explores the themes of what happens after death, and how we might never know what happens as he hops into a God’s eye view where he believes that God is telling him that “living and dying are one and the same” as he questions the people who have passed away, “Do they dream just like we do? Do they love just like we do?”.
A crazy album for sure, one that will take much longer time to decipher. I’m glad we are finally able to listen to possibly Mac’s greatest work, but of course, it is too early to tell. But I can see this project being easily in my top three albums in his catalog right alongside Faces and GO:OD: AM. This will be a great year for music, and I hope to see this album featured on my wrapped this year due to how many times I am going to go back and listen to it from start to finish.
LLM