The Daily Spin II

Mac Miller | Balloonerism

Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.

As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.

Album: Balloonerism (2025)

Artist: Mac Miller

Link:

I am once again reminded of just how unfortunate it is that Mac Miller is no longer with us.

Originally recorded in 2014, around the time Faces came out and following Watching Movies With The Sound Off, Miller’s struggles are painted in crystalline picture here - there’s not a song that doesn’t go by without a familiar reference to death creeping in from the edges. All of this runs a little rougher in retrospect - knowing that this story doesn’t have a pleasant end makes it all the harsher to hear Miller fight these battles.

In that lies the resilience of the album - Mac says ‘the good days are exactly like the bad ones’, but this is also a year before he’s chanting about his hundred grandkids he’s looking forward to meeting - a point to light at the end of the tunnel.

At the same time, this album is clearly a negative framework. For as boisterous and rowdy as his earlier projects could be, this is one of the first times that we hard dive into Mac’s sleepier, darker sense of self. It’s near his best artistically, introspective, full of strong musicianship, acid jazz back and forth over beautiful drumpieces. His list of collaborators grows ever stronger, and here you see them near their finest.

It’s a shame that Miller isn’t here to see the future he sometimes lets himself dream of on this album, because it looks bright.

Rating: 8/10

Best Tracks: Stoned, Tomorrow Will Never Know, Funny Papers

Worst Tracks: 5 Dollar Pony Rides