by Jake Reed
Post Malone has long been one of the biggest names in the music industry. This year an exciting change to his style has left the media confused, but ready for more. Post Malone has gone country.
Austin Richard Post gained his first grasp of fame upon the release of “White Iverson” in 2015. The astonishing feat of reaching one million views allowed Malone to be recognized by other artists, such as Kanye West, who had Malone perform at model Kylie Jenner’s 18th birthday party.
He released his first official album, “Stoney,” in late 2016. It was record-setting in itself, with “Congratulations” feat. Quavo peaked at number 8, the highest of several songs on the album that reached the Billboard Top 100.
This album marked only the beginning of his success. The hip-hop and rap theme remained prevalent throughout his next album released in 2018. This time around, the album “scored both the artist’s first No. 1, the year’s biggest debut, and a record-breaking streaming week for the set.” (Billboard.com) This album placed Post Malone up on a pedestal in the music industry as songs like “Rockstar,” “Better Now,” and “Psycho” not only became radio staples but hit the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
You would think that accolades like that would conclude the era—wrong! He went on to release a third album, “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” in 2019. This was confirmed by the release of “Sunflower” feat. Swae Lee. This song was the highlight of the album, nominated for “Record of the Year” and headlined the tracklist for “Spider-Man Into the Spider-verse," which won “Best Animated Feature” at the 91st Academy Awards. More recently, songs like “Goodbyes,” “Wow.,” and “Circles” can be praised enough to the extent that the album would be nominated for “Album of the Year” at the 63rd Grammys.
Although, in terms of success, Malone seems to be doing well, he also admitted to having trouble mentally.
"Four years ago, I was on a rough path," he said. When asked what he was battling, Malone said, "Everything. It was terrible." (Foxnews.com)
Anecdotal evidence also points to his behavior and stature during past hip-hop/rap concerts as being unhealthy. Speculation and rumors resulted in a blemish on his image that he aimed to correct.
Now, Malone is visibly doing much better, and it is evident when you watch him share his newfound interest in country music. With the image that Malone has earned himself in the music industry, he was able to connect with some of the greatest stars of our time to headstart his new frontier. Funny enough, he actually foreshadowed this entire transformation with a tweet from 2015 stating, “WHEN I TURN 30 I'm BECOMING A COUNTRY/ FOLK SINGER.”
The first noteworthy collaboration is Post Malone’s feature on Noah Kahan’s “Dial Dr*nk.” In assisting with writing the top 25 US Billboard Hot 100 hits, Malone was now grazing the folk and country genre billboards that Noah Kahan had newly entered. The album that sparked his fame, “Stick Season,” released in 2022, has attracted an audience through TikTok and flocked more listeners to what seems to almost be its own genre. This was only Malone’s first step into this new musical dimension.
In November of 2023, he paired with Hardy and Morgan Wallen to sing “Pickup Man” at the CMA Awards as a tribute to honor the life of a country music sensation, Joe Diffie (Forbes.com). Although they are extremely popular country artists, this was nowhere near his peak.
Morgan Wallen returned to collaborate on the No. 1 Billboard hit upon launch, “I Had Some Help.” This song alone is excellent, to the extent that People’s Choice Country Awards nominated it for “The Song of 2024.” Although this feat is impressive on its own, it was only the beginning of what is meant to be an album filled with surprises.
The album, “F-1 Trillion,” debuted on August 16th and marks Post Malone’s sixth studio album. The crazy part is that prior to its release, it was already the 2nd most popular country album on Apple Music due to the trio of pre-released songs.
The second of the pre-released bunch features another country legend in Blake Shelton. “Pour Me a Drink” has remained a top 100 song on the charts since its release in late June. Contrary to my personal belief that this song is the best on the album, the charts only have it reaching the 30s in its peak (officialcharts.com). As you can probably tell, Malone is not alone on this trek and is nowhere near settling for features—he’s getting the best of the best.
That statement remains unbothered with the last of the singles released before the album. “Guy for That,” featuring Luke Combs, arguably one of the best country singers to ever grab the microphone, debuted July 26th. You can see the profound message that Combs and Malone put together during the songwriting process. They speak of a relationship that broke down and needs fixing, claiming they “ain’t got a guy for that,” but they manage to craft an upbeat rhythm to go alongside it.
Those three allowed fans to warm up to the album, but it could not fully prepare anyone for what was yet to come. The pre-released singles all audibly held the same theme, and the public suspected that the album, crawling with features (15/18 songs featured another artist), was not fully complete.
Still, fans wanted more solo songs. Funny enough, the prayers were answered with the surprise release of extended album “F-1 Trillion: Long Bed” otherwise known as Disc 2, featuring 9 new songs with no features.
The album became #1 across all genres on both Apple Music and iTunes on only the first day. Social media went rogue over certain songs, particularly “Yours”. It was written terrifically. It definitely deserves to be the most listened to of the album through heartfelt description of the love he has for his daughter and how she will always be his even when she grows up and marries. Although no connection is explicitly mentioned, I believe it resembles “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw, another popular country artist who is featured on “F-1 Trillion”.
The features on the album include the following:
-Tim McGraw
-Hank Williams Jr.
-Morgan Wallen
-Blake Shelton
-Dolly Parton
-Brad Paisley
-Luke Combs
-Lainey Wilson
-Jelly Roll
-ERNEST
-Sierra Ferrell
-Chris Stapleton
-HARDY
-Billy Strings
While “F-1 Trillion” carries so many of these familiar faces in the country music world, many have found that Malone’s execution of the entire album was flawless. He ensured that the diversity remained intact through traditional country, pop country, and “M-E-X-I-C-O” which should be a category in itself due to the fun “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” fiddle type spin it adds to the eighteen-song collection.
“Post Malone's new album is pretty intriguing because he collaborates with a country artist on nearly every song, which is a brilliant strategy.
We all know once you get into country music you're set for life.
What I love is each song is true to the collaborative artist sound”
(@countrycentral [instagram])
Overall, I think the album is excellent and succeeded everyone’s expectations for a newer country artist. My likings for the original 3 more pop-centered songs are not replicated in online ratings, but certain songs definitely stick out above the rest. Here are a few songs that are getting lots of attention and that you should listen to if they are up your alley.
The first two songs “Wrong Ones (Feat. Tim McGraw)” and “Finer Things (Feat. Hank Williams Jr.” are the real deal. These two songs alone could satisfy the traditional country listener, but a solo song “Back To Texas” adds to the mix. A phenomenal example of what Winn said previously, Malone tailored the rhythm to complement their southern vibe.
Malone’s range of vocals is wonderfully presented in a more upbeat form in songs like “Dead At The Honky Tonk”, “Goes Without Saying (Feat. Brad Paisley), “Have The Heart (Feat. Dolly Parton)”, and “Nosedive (Feat. Lainey Wilson)”. Still showing off his ability to work in a traditional form of country, Malone forged these songs to be some of the better ones on the album, although they really have nothing that sets them apart for the first-time listeners besides a catchy tune. Something that should be noted is his ability to sing in excellent harmony with Dolly Parton, a renowned female country singer from the 1970’s, a task not many deep voiced country singers, much less an ex-rapper, are capable of.
Now time for the slower songs. “Missin’ You Like This (Feat. Luke Combs)” is easily one of my favorite songs on the album. It is to the point where I have become a strong advocate for more collaborations between Malone and Combs in the future. “Never Love You Again (Feat. Sienna Ferrell)” and “Ain’t How It Ends” are also some of my favorites which tells you a lot considering I typically dislike slow songs. Posty’s voice, despite his previous image of being a rapper and all, is great for country music. He’s truly a natural singer. That trend continues with an apparent fan favorite “Hide My Gun (Feat. HARDY)”. Hardy gained a sort of crazy, rockstar-like reputation with songs like “PSYCHO” and “ROCKSTAR” which makes this one interesting because you never would have thought a slow song featuring him would come out this well.
Despite the typical approach to a somber love story being slow, Malone manages to turn them into upbeat melodies that make you forget you’re listening to a sad story. “Right About You” and “What Don’t Belong to Me” both convey a sorrowful message upon lyrical analysis. The way Malone sings both songs is so uplifting and turns the situation in which the man does not have much but still gives everything into the relationship and the girl into a positive one. The smiles persist throughout another underrated song “Fallin’ In Love” when he speaks about how his love is so great that he says to the girl, “try to knock me off my feel-good horse, Can’t get in the way of nature runnin’ its course.” “Devil I’ve Been (Feat. ERNEST)” is another song to keep an eye on as it has consistently lurked near the higher areas of most rankings I’ve seen. Another popular one tells the tale of a playful approach to a girl as if he’s just fallen in love in “Hey Mercedes”, AKA the best song on the album in my own opinion.
To sum it all up, “F-1 Trillion” turned out to be a major success. Receiving a 9.1/10 on @countrycentral’s rankings is not to go unnoticed. Even Billboard projects that it will finish the week with a #1 debut of 200-225k units (@chartdata [twitter])Of course there are always haters, but it's country music… when are there not?
Looking more from a critical standpoint, you’d notice that everyone in the media has different opinions about the best songs. This tells us that there is no singular standout and every song is good in its own way to be mixed and matched throughout rankings. This album is extremely well-rounded and appeals to all kinds of listeners, but I have my own preferences. I have already listed 21 out of the 27 that I think are top tier, but nobody is going to listen to all those. Let’s suppose you haven’t heard the 3 pre-released singles that have taken over the radio lately. I highly recommend giving the following five songs a try:
“Hey Mercedes”
“What Don’t Belong to Me”
“Missin’ You Like This (Feat. Luke Combs)”
“Dead At The Honky Tonk”
“Never Love You Again (Feat. Sienna Ferrell)”
That should give you a little taste of everything, but of course I’d go back and test a few more to really discover your interests. This one is fairly compatible with everyone, but hey— there’s always exceptions. If that’s the case, Post Malone has a fantastic career in the shadow of his country music voyage. It really might be impossible to hate this guy.
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