Mac Miller’s Balloonerism: Honest Review
by ~dhh for dohiphop.com
When Mac Miller dropped Swimming and Circles, he carved himself a permanent, tender space in the hearts of listeners across the world — a place of raw vulnerability, sonic exploration, and an almost painful beauty. Those records felt like walking through Mac’s internal rooms, lights dimmed, shadows alive, but always with a flicker of hope. They weren’t just albums; they were invitations. So when I sat down with Balloonerism, I’ll admit, I came to the table with high expectations. And, truth be told, I left feeling… underwhelmed.
Let’s be clear: Balloonerism isn’t a bad album. It’s Mac Miller, after all — an artist who evolved from the carefree, weed-smoking frat rap of K.I.D.S. to the gritty introspection of Faces and the shimmering melancholy of Swimming. But where his previous work cracked open windows into his soul, this record floats past like a drifting balloon, just out of reach.
Opening with “Tambourine Dream,” we get a mere 34 seconds of playful sound, teasing at the psychedelic textures to come. But as the album progresses, tracks like “DJ’s Chord Organ” and “Do You Have A Destination?” feel more like sketchbook pages than completed portraits. There’s a looseness here, almost as if we’re eavesdropping on jam sessions rather than crafted songs.
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One of the standout tracks, “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” carries a hazy charm, with Mac’s familiar blend of hazed-out beats and wry delivery. Yet even here, the punch is softened. “Friendly Hallucinations” and “Mrs. Deborah Downer” hint at emotional depth, but they don’t fully commit, leaving the listener yearning for the hard-hitting confessions that made Faces such a masterpiece.
By the time we reach “Stoned” and “Shangri-La,” the album seems to float in its own atmosphere — pleasant, but detached. And this is where Balloonerism both succeeds and falters. It’s an airy, experimental trip, yes, but it lacks the emotional gravity that anchored his best work.
The nearly 12-minute closer, “Tomorrow Will Never Know,” is perhaps the album’s boldest statement — sprawling, meditative, and dense. But instead of delivering the cathartic punch one might expect, it drifts into the background, leaving a faint, lingering sadness.
It’s important to remember where Mac came from. On K.I.D.S., he was the teenage dreamer, skating on fame’s edges. By Watching Movies with the Sound Off, he’d already tasted the darker side of success. Faces was his haunted masterpiece, a swirling, narcotic diary of inner battles. And then came Swimming and Circles, which felt like Mac clawing his way back to the surface, reaching for clarity and light.
Balloonerism, in contrast, feels like a side project — a collection of sonic experiments that, while interesting, never fully land. It’s as if Mac was floating above himself, observing rather than immersing. There’s charm, there’s talent, there’s the undeniable mark of an artist who was always evolving. But for someone like me — someone who holds Mac Miller’s music close — this album feels like a missed opportunity.
Perhaps that’s unfair. Perhaps Balloonerism wasn’t meant to sit alongside Swimming or Circles as a defining statement. Maybe it’s simply Mac exploring sounds, textures, and ideas, free from expectation. But as a listener, I can’t help but long for the depth, the urgency, the rawness that made me fall in love with his work in the first place.
Final verdict? A good listen, for sure — but not a great one.
I expected more because Mac Miller has shown us he’s capable of more. And maybe that’s the curse of brilliance: once you’ve shown us the mountaintop, we’ll always expect you to climb it again.
Rest easy, Mac. You’re missed more than words can say.
Favourite Tracks: “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” “Friendly Hallucinations,” “Tomorrow Will Never Know”
For Fans Of: Earl Sweatshirt, Anderson .Paak, Thundercat
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