My interpretation of Balloonerism

Hear me out.

Balloonerism is an album Mac made with the intention of it releasing when he died. He has actually requested family and friends to release it post death. That being said, the entire album is almost like he is reliving his entire life over again, dissecting and questioning everything before he ultimately dies from drugs. Its like his life and thoughts all flash before him the entire album. In this time period of Macs career , he had this obssession with death and made it clear he knew his chances from dying of an overdose were high. So I think the entire album is from the persepective of Mac Miller doing drugs, telling us his journey of the high of these drugs, to the eventual point where he ODs. We see this at the end of the album, it kind of sounds like he ascends (like a balloon) into heaven or after life. The balloonerism name and cover is a metaphor for Mac overdosing.

In the album, Mac basically gets so high from drugs, goes on a ‘trip’ as he keeps getting closer and closer to death, until he eventually dies at the end. Like a balloon, Mac can only get so high until he eventually dies or “pops” from the altitude. You can even see in the cover the little man holding onto the balloon. It could be part of himself trying to prevent this from happening but hes not big or strong enough from preventing himself (the balloon) from continuing to get higher and eventually pop (die). Essentially he cant control his addiction and knows the outcome.

Mac OD’s in the outro and the phone call was him either him trying to call for help while he is slowly entering the void and leaving earth or others trying to contact him while he is dying. The sound of Kids in the background is him reliving his life, maybe its even Blue Slide Park, and going back to a simpler time when he was content in life. This is the flash he sees before he dies. We also see this concept being talked about previously on the record in Excelsior. To him, being a kid was the final memory before death, a time he thoroughly enjoyed life without any complications.

Could be entirely wrong but thats my interpretation so far.