Balloonerism: Every Track On Mac Miller's New Posthumous Album Ranked

Balloonerism is the seventh studio album by rapper and musician Mac Miller and the second posthumous LP released by his estate and Warner Bros. following his death in September 2018. Often considered Miller's "lost tape", Balloonerism originated in a 2-week jam session in 2014 between 2013's Watching Movies with the Sound Off and the then-mixtape Faces (2014), Mac's trip-hop masterpiece which was released on major streaming platforms in October 2021. Balloonerism officially hit Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube on January 17, 2025, two days before Mac's 33rd birthday.

While an unofficial leak of Balloonerism has circled the Internet since 2020, the official release offers a more polished and immersive soundscape. Some leaked songs are not featured on the official release, such as early versions of "Colors and Shapes" and a Mike Jones-less "Uber", both Faces tracks, "Bob's Dementia", "He Finally Sleeps" and "Smile", the latter of which became a part of another unreleased Mac project, Run-On Sentences Vol. 2. The Balloonerism 2025 streaming release arrives with accompanying vinyl releases, merchandise, visualizers, and a 24-minute animated companion film directed by Samuel Jerome Mason, currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

After three complete listens of Balloonerism, starting with YouTube visualizers at the midnight release, then Apple Music's Lossless streaming during a sunny yet brisk midday walk, and finally on Amazon's exclusive green vinyl spun by a Bluetooth Crosley, the album initially feels like a missing puzzle piece of Mac's expansive discography. Rankings are subjective and can change by the day but are mostly based on originality, lyrical content, instrumentation, replay value, cadence, themes, tone, insights into Mac's perspective, and comparisons to his other works. Regardless, the official release of Balloonerism is a celebratory event that extends and sharpens Mac Miller's unique discography and everlasting legacy.

14 Tambourine Dream

Track 1 – 0:33

Balloonerism opens with 33 seconds of some sweet tambourine shaking on "Tambourine Dream" from producer Larry Fisherman, one of Mac's musical alter-egos. Fisherman produced all of the original tracks on the album with help on the bass from frequent collaborator and close friend Thundercat. The tambourine can be heard throughout Balloonerism, particularly in the songs "5 Dollar Pony Rides", "Friendly Hallucinations", and "Rick's Piano." The tambourine is a signature instrument of Larry Fisherman's and can also be heard throughout Faces. On Balloonerism, it sets an expectation for Mac's jazzy genre-blending orchestrations and an overall experimental tone in the project.

13 Transformations (feat. Delusional Thomas)

Track 11 – 3:05

Another one of Mac's well-known alter-egos, Delusional Thomas, is one of two featured artists on Balloonerism. Thomas switches bars with Miller on "Transformations", which opens with some complimentary comments on DJ Clockwork, an early collaborator who frequently toured with Mac. Thomas's high-pitched vocals don't always sit right with listeners but have historically been associated with Mac's most imaginative, drug-induced, and comically random lyrical content, as evidenced by lyrics such as "Blew my shit up with a thumb up, like Henrey Winkler." "Transformations" feels like an unfinished trip that's hard to make sense of, opening with two repeated verses and ending abruptly in a hazy fog.

12 Mrs. Deborah Downer

Track 6 – 4:05

The sixth track on Balloonerism is the hypnotic "Mrs. Deborah Downer". Like many of the songs on the album, it sounds like a Faces prototype, although its production feels intentionally subdued and disinterested, relying on Mac's twisting bars and occasional singing to give it life. The lyrics are narratively compelling and contradictory, self-reflexive and corrective in real-time, as Mac revises his own statements with lines like "All roads lead to the same confusion / I mean, all roads lead to the same conclusions." Mac leaves the crossed-out bars in his notepad for listeners to dissect in "Mrs. Deborah Downer", amplifying the puzzled atmosphere of the track and the high-chasing perspective within it that reads as distorted yet optimistic.

11 5 Dollar Pony Rides

Track 4 – 3:42

"5 Dollar Pony Rides" was the first officially released single off of Balloonerism, potentially because it's one of the more accessible tracks on the album. Mac does more singing on this one than any other Balloonerism song, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. "5 Dollar Pony Rides" is one of the few upbeat songs on the project and nearly feels like a Divine Feminine B-side or concept, sonically similar to his 2016 hit "Dang! (feat. Anderson .Paak)". Some of the most catchy lyrics on Balloonerism can be found in the track, such as "She don't know she slept through the future / Missed it, it was yesterday", which adds intrigue. However, the latter half of the track may work against its replay value.

10 Shangri-La

Track 8 – 2:49

The opening chords on "Shangri-La" sound just like synths off of Circles before the ominous clank of a cowbell pulls the listener right back into the psychedelic soundscape that defines Balloonersim through and through. Speaking of Faces prototypes, "Shangri-La" could seamlessly fit into that project, maybe somewhere between "55" and "San Francisco". In the new track, Mac recalls a drive to Shangri-La and questions "just how super is a supermodel?", bringing back memories of a similar journey he describes in "Vitamins" on 2012's Macadelic. While not necessarily a standout, "Shangri-La" is integral in maintaining the dilated vibe at the middle of the project, bridging the fan favorites "Stoned" and "Funny Papers".

9 Manakins

Track 12 – 3:09

"Manakins" offers a fierce emotional punch over an otherwise lovely harp-infused instrumental backed by powerful percussion. It's one of several tracks on the back side of Balloonerism with added weight due to the posthumous nature of the project. A relatively brief song, lyrics like "'Cause I see the light at the end of the tunnel / It feels like I'm dyin', dyin', dyin' / I'm dead" add a metaphysical surrealism akin to a David Lynch film. Strangely enough, the sing-along chorus boosts the track to feel like an anthem of radical acceptance, masking a sense of hopelessness with a cover of liberating relinquishment, resulting in one of the most lyrically complex songs on the album.

8 Friendly Hallucinations

Track 5 – 4:46

"Friendly Hallucinations" is one of the few tracks on Balloonerism you might want to play on a summer day with the windows down, arguably the truest hip-hop song on the album. Oddly feel-good, "Friendly Hallucinations" has a high replay value based on its catchy "It's only real if it's real to you" hook and smooth Thundercat baseline. Mac's bars are in top form on the track, offering scholarly lyrics such as "Fallin' victim to a world that's filled with satire, Mark Twain admired / Open Tom Sawyer, read a passage to the cab driver". "Friendly Hallucinations" feels like a movie scene in the way it condenses and frames Mac's perspective with a near-cinematic attention to detail.

7 Excelsior

Track 10 – 2:24

Another example of Mac's thoughtful storytelling skills on Balloonerism is "Excelsior", a short but vivid portrait riddled with relatable nostalgia-dripped questions. Paired with its scene in the Balloonerism short film, "Excelsior" inspires the listener to remember themselves as children "before the brainwash starts / before they get polluted, start thinkin' like adults." Mac reveals he used to want to be a magician, hence the song closing out with him saying "Abracadabra" and "Excelsior". Listeners can't help but think about their own dreams as kids while listening to "Excelsior", which contributes to the "playing pretend" theme felt throughout Balloonerism.

6 DJ's Chord Organ (feat. SZA)

Track 2 – 5:16

While Mac is hardly on Balloonerism's second track "DJ's Chord Organ" lyrically, he and Larry Fisherman create the most bewildering and immersive soundscape on the entire album. Given the eventual "Tambourine Dream" skip, it's an incredible introduction to the world of Balloonerism where seemingly anything is possible, a dreamland full of both the good and the bad. The incomparable SZA elevates the loopy sonic landscape, punctuating the track with an unmissable "Cocaine is ruthless" line. The instrumental is mesmerizing in parts, encouraging the mind to drift and wander, extending a hand between Mac and the listener that vacuums you into a revolving dream-nightmare hybrid full of melancholic wonder.

5 Stoned

Track 7 – 4:04

As far as replay value goes, "Stoned" is likely a top contender as it was often considered among the favorites of the leaked Balloonerism tracks. Miller is on point in just about every regard on "Stoned", which is equally accessible and niche, energetic and subdued, narratively engaging and sonically immersive. It could be many people's most listened-to song of the official release, and with good reason. "Stoned" is sharply, even formally, constructed, providing a momentary life raft to any listener floating adrift after the first half of the album. While much of Balloonerism rises from dark places of drug-induced inner worlds, "Stoned" demonstrates a tangible portrait of love, temptation, and the call of escapism.