Balloonerism and posthumous albums
Some of the best material of Mac Miller’s career dropped last Friday with the release of his second posthumous record Balloonerism. And I feel nothing.
Last Friday, 17th January, Mac Miller’s estate released his second posthumous album Balloonerism.
Mac Miller burst onto the hip-hop scene in 2010 with his mixtape KIDS (Kickin’ Incredibly Dope Shit). His cheeky, playful rhymes paired with a smooth flow and delivery gained him a loyal fanbase. Bangers like “Donald Trump”, which has aged both well and poorly considering what the titular Trump has become, ensured his music was a staple at house parties across the globe. Mac proved to be a highly versatile artist and very capable of developing his sound. 2018 album Swimming, the final release before his untimely death on the 7th September 2018, demonstrated all of this in abundance. Songs like “Self Care”, “Jet Fuel”, and “2009” provided the backdrop to one of hip-hop’s best albums of 2018. Here, however, I will not discuss any of the albums the Pittsburgh-native released between 2010 and 2018. Since his death, Mac’s estate released two posthumous albums – Circles in 2020 and Balloonerism last Friday. While this blog also serves as a review of the latter, the concept of the posthumous album is one that has always made me a bit queasy and that I believe warrants a discussion.
Mac performing live in 2014, around the time when Balloonerism would have been recorded.
First, it is important to clarify that there is nothing to indicate that Mac’s estate is acting in a non-ethical way when it comes to the release of Balloonerism. The songs were recorded more than ten years ago between 2013’s Watching Movies with the Sound Off and 2014’s Faces. The making of the album was indeed so far advanced that Mac had already commissioned its artwork. And even five years after Circles, whoever engineered the final product was able to make Balloonerism feel like classic Mac Miller. The production is wavy and atmospheric, the flow is on point and the record’s highlights will undoubtedly feature in any future Mac Miller compilations. Particularly “Funny Papers”, where Mac muses on the highs and lows of life and what it all means in the end, and Rick Rubin-inspired “Rick’s Piano” bring us Mac in his pocket of piano-backed introspective hip-hop à la “2009” – his best track in my opinion.
Whilst I am glad to be able to enjoy Mac’s fresh output, it also leaves me feeling sad. These tracks will never know what it means to be performed live in front of thousands of adoring fans. The lyrics will never be shouted back at Mac as he raps his heart out on stage. Songs exist within an ecosystem which allows them to live and breathe. In posthumous records, this is sorely missing. There is a distinct lack of soul. Balloonerism will be discussed for a few weeks and probably gain critical acclaim. It might even win prizes. But will the songs on the album stand the test of time with no one there to perform them? To breathe life into them?
Simultaneously, I can’t help but wonder: would Mac have wanted Balloonerism to be released? After all, there must be a reason that it was shelved in 2014 in favour of other projects. This thought experiment has made me quite sceptical about posthumous albums. It is like someone else is speaking through, in this case, Mac Miller’s spiritual remains with the aim of re-kindling old magic. It comes across as inauthentic and, frankly, a money-grab despite the best intentions of everyone involved.
This is also the qualitative difference between Balloonerism and Circles, which by all accounts was composed of songs that Mac had been working on during the Swimming sessions. These songs gave us an insight into his disparate state of mind in the months leading up to his passing and, for many fans, had an almost therapeutic effect. I doubt that Balloonerism will achieve the same.
I would urge the following: no more posthumous records! Although they can make for nice additions to an artist’s oeuvre, they lack soul, do not respect the artist’s creative choices and rarely have any long-term cultural impact. On that note, I encourage everyone to dive back into Mac Miller’s discography and sincerely hope he continues to rest in peace.