Top 3 takeaways from Post Malone’s new album: “Hollywood’s Bleeding”
Tore Sætre, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons
Post Malone at the main stage at Stavernfestivalen.
October 4, 2019
Post Malone, known for his radio-favorite hits such as “Rockstar” and “Better Now”, has topped the charts again with his September 6th album release—Hollywood’s Bleeding. The 24-year-old and four-time Grammy nominee has strengthened his signature sound and explored a new and relaxed, upbeat style. With all of the anticipation and success of the new album, it’s best to break it down into the Top 3 Takeaways: collaboration, style, and content.
#1 Collaboration:
While albums like Beerbongs & Bentleys have shown the power of Malone’s collaborations, this album brings a wide and diverse variety of other singers. One of the top tracks is “Take What You Want” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott. While the combination may seem surprising, the blend of style allows for a brooding intensity, including a charged guitar riff. The other singers featured on the album include Halsey, Young Thug, SZA, Swae Lee, Meek Mill, DaBaby, and Lil Baby. While Post Malone’s previous albums have all featured collaborations, the sheer range of contributors makes this album like nothing we’ve ever seen.
#2 Style:
Malone, easily recognized by his trap-pop style, generally steers away from relaxed, soft-beat songs, but in this album, he clearly breaks past the genre he is usually known for. One of the greatest and most unique aspects of this album is its dual-tone. While his classic, high-beat sounds and intense vocals are prevalent, an unfamiliar (but not unwanted) mellow-pop style takes up half of the album. Perhaps this was a deliberate choice, but whatever his reason, Malone’s ability to jump back and forth between pop and trap, while different, makes for the perfect balance in an album. “Circles”, one of his highest-rated songs and a personal favorite, is a perfect example of this. When the song starts, your mind doesn’t instantly jump to Post Malone, but once it kicks in, the new style easily fits his vocals and lyrics.
#3 Content:
One of the most intriguing aspects of Hollywood’s Bleeding is how personal it is. While all of Malone’s songs contain full emotion, this album further shows into his personal life and feelings. An example of this is the track “Internet”. While Malone lyricizes the well-known and often-hated culture of social media, an emotional round of instrumentals carry the second half of the song. The self-empowering lyrics of “I’m Gonna Be” and “A Thousand Bad Times” promote Malone’s carefree attitude of being exactly who he wants to be. While this message isn’t entirely new, his delivery is what captures the reaction from the audience.
If these top 3 takeaways weren’t enough to convince you to listen to Post Malone’s new album, perhaps the fact that I’ve listened to the song “Circles” 70+ times since the album release can show, at least to some degree, the power of Hollywood’s Bleeding. It’s the perfect album for driving with the windows down on a cool fall afternoon or trying to stay sane while studying or doing homework in the library. Whatever your opinion on Malone’s previous songs, the new album has the perfect uniqueness to satisfy any mood or style of song and with the entire essence of my being, I recommend giving it a listen.
