Emily Ota | Writer
January 22, 2025
Mac Miller, a beloved rapper and composer in the hip-hop community, recently released his second posthumous album, Balloonerism. It has been five years since the release of his first posthumous album, Circles, and fans of Miller were beyond excited to get the chance to hear Miller’s voice again. The album was created in 2014, four years before Miller’s tragically early death. However, he never got around to releasing his work, leaving Balloonerism in the deep archives of unfinished projects by Miller.
The album consists of fourteen tracks, and within them are songs that feature SZA and one of Miller’s alter-egos, Delusional Thomas. The release of Balloonerism has been a hit. Upon its release on January 17, 2025, its most popular song, “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” has reached over ten million plays already. On its first day of release, the entire album reached 18,609,488 streams on Spotify and five days ago, the album reached the top 5 on US iTunes. The impressive statistics from Balloonerism display the devoted listeners and continued support from fans of Miller.
Friends of Miller such as Josh Berg, the audio engineer at Sanctuary, the studio where Miller recorded between 2013 and 2014, explain the decision to leave the album and how Miller left it. Berg states, “Once you start pulling everything apart and dusting it off, it starts to lose its magic,” which is not what Miller would have wanted for Balloonerism. The producers felt that it was wrong to fine-tune the rough edges of Balloonerism. Berg, among others, left the album alone concerning Miller. Listeners such as junior Mikaela Benumof are grateful for this decision because it gives the album an “authentic” vibe and keeps the music “true to him as an artist.” She loved the album and the emotions it evoked in the listener. Benumof also added how she adores how producers continue to release posthumous albums for Miller, explaining that “it’s cool to listen to and see what he had planned to release.” While Benumof thinks that Miller’s posthumous albums are a gift to the fans, she also includes that she thinks “he would have wanted it to be heard as well.” Miller was known for loving his work, his fans, and his community, so these posthumous albums such as Balloonerism are a constant reminder that Miller is still with us today through his music.
Leave a Reply