Mac Miller fans will have the pleasure of kicking off their musical 2025 in a very exciting way, as his previously unreleased and long-lost album Balloonerism will officially release on January 17, 2025. For those unaware, this is an LP that he was reportedly working on in between 2013 and 2014. In other words, it was in the middle of the creative processes behind 2013's Watching Movies With The Sound Off and 2014's Faces, a project that actually hosted some ideas that were originally meant for Balloonerism. Given how vibrant and pivotal those sonic worlds are for the late Pittsburgh legend's career overall, this should be a very interesting glimpse into those eras.
In fact, we also recently got an official release for Balloonerism's trailer, which originally played this past weekend at Tyler, The Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw carnival. It features a host of animal characters traveling through a woozy, trippy, ever-evolving, and very fantastical world, with a lot of striking imagery, gorgeous animation, and some ethereal background music. It sounds like Thundercat vocals at certain points, and Mac Miller eventually comes in via a snippet at the end.
Mac Miller's Balloonerism Trailer
This also follows a lot more celebrations of Mac Miller's life and legacy as of late, as the aforementioned Watching Movies With The Sound Off and Faces album recently hit their tenth anniversaries. These events came with some extra songs from the vault, such as "The Quest," or reimagined versions of existing fan-favorites. It's been great to see Mac's estate treat all these releases and events with such care and respect. We all know that posthumous releases can be a pretty controversial matter, and we're grateful that so much earnest passion and responsibility is at the forefront in this case.
Meanwhile, we're sure that Balloonerism will prompt many more heartened reflections of Mac Miller's music, art, legacy, life, and humanity. We still don't really know what to expect from this new album, unless you're one of the fans who already consumed the leaked tracks so much that this album's been "out" for you for a long time. Now, a lot more people will indulge in that joy and celebrate Mac through the joy he shared with us.