Balloonerism, an album released on Jan. 17, 2025, is Mac Miller’s second posthumous  album. It contains 14 tracks, with one song featuring SZA. 

Mac Miller, formerly known as Malcolm James McCormik, was a short-lived musical artist. Miller is most known for his best selling album Swimming, which sold just over 2 million copies in Denmark, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. 

Unfortunately, Miller’s melodic career came to an end. On Sept. 7, 2018, Miller died from a fentanyl overdose at age 26. 

Miles Bliznick, sophomore, says that Balloonerism was definitely a change from his favorite album, Macadelic, a 16-track mixtape released by Miller on March 23, 2012. Bliznick claims that Balloonerism was an “emotional album to [him].” Bliznick explains that this album “saddens” him because Balloonerism is a metaphor to Miller’s overdose and this is most likely the last of Miller’s literary collection. 

Miller first began writing the songs for Ballonerism in 2014. Unlike his other album that came after his passing, Circles, Balloonerism is “largely untouched,” said Eric Dan, a producer that has previously worked for Miller, to BBCnews. 

One song that stands out incredibly from his new album is “DJ’s Cord Organ,” which features artist SZA. What sets this song apart is that Miller made this song using a chord organ, which was given to him by Daniel Johnston, a musician who hired Miller and Lana Del Rey to produce Johnston’s short film, “Hi, How Are You.”