RELEASED 6TH SEPTEMBER 2019

Favourite track: Wow.

Post Malone is back with a diverse album showing off his singing and rapping ability, quality music production and a decent range of featuring artists.  

The fourth most popular Spotify artist in the world, Post Malone, has released his new album Hollywood’s Bleeding. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and has made a name for himself in such a short period of time since his debut hit ‘White Iverson’. I have to say I’m a fan of some of his songs such as ‘I Fall Apart’, ‘Congratulations’ and ‘Stay’ so I was interested to see what this album would sound like. The cover art is a massive change from his beerbongs & bentleys yellow, bright and bold disc image. Hollywood’s Bleeding shows (what I’m assuming to be) Post Malone standing in an archway in the night in a very vampire-slayer way with a skeleton figure hunched on the ground. It reminds me of the book covers to teen horror fiction which I think works well for this 17-track album cover.

The first track ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’ opens with some nice guitar and eerie vocals. He mentions “vampires” so I guess I wasn’t wrong about that. His singing is really strong and the music is intense and atmospheric. The beat is a nice Hip-Hop one and his verses when the beat comes in are goooood. He explores the lethal nature of fame and I suppose, Hollywood. He strips away the glamorous and romantic image it has and shines his light on it. ‘Saint Tropez’ opens with kind of resonant cable FX and choir vocals with a sudden Trap beat and hard bass. DaBaby features on ‘Enemies’ which has a lighter beat as he sings about how he “used to have friends” but the fame and money has changed the situation and he can’t rely on them. DaBaby’s verse works well to compliment Post Malone’s tone. ‘Allergic’ has a strange opening and then comes in with full on British Rock sounds and shouts. It’s got a nice catchy melody that totally changes the vibe of his album so far but then the key changes in the singing and deep bassline brings it back to the haunting aspect of it all. Hard rock electric guitar is present in the next track ‘A Thousand Bad Times’ alongside a subtle beat and then bass guitar. He talks about a girl and how he’s taken it all before so he can deal with it no matter if his heart breaks or not.

‘Circles’ opens with nice strumming and a rock kit beat but it’s not my favourite song as I feel like it’s almost got a Pop structure and chord progression to it and I prefer this other songs. ‘Die For Me’ (ft. Future and Halsey) gets back to the Post Malone sound but OMG Halsey’s verse is really something. Meek Mill and Lil Baby feature on ‘On The Road’ which has a nice tune to it with good instrumentals and a Hip-Hop beat again. I can’t listen to Meek Mill without thinking of his verses in DJ Khaled’s ‘You Stay’ (one of my favourite songs of this year). An interesting combination of artists on the next track. We have Ozzy Osbourne with Travis Scott in ‘Take What You Want’ which I actually think worked so well. It added a different layer to the music and gave it a rock sound vocally but a Hip-Hop/RnB backing. ‘I’m Gonna Be’ is a motivational song with a nice message which partners well with his old song ‘Congratulations’ I think.

Ok, I was hyped to see SZA features on one of the tracks. ‘Staring At The Sun’ has GREAT backing music with a rock kit beat, atmospheric instrumentals and a nice chorus with solid vocals from Post Malone. Obviously SZA slayed. The popular hit from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, ‘Sunflower’ (ft. Swae Lee) features on the album which was nice to hear. ‘Internet’ has a very haunting effects opening as he talks about social media models, leaking photos on internet and how relationships are suffering because of the internet. I loved the dramatic strings he uses in this song and the orchestral aspect of it as the song builds and then reduces to piano and plucked strings. ‘Myself’ is a different kind of song. It’s both melancholic and upbeat which presents an interesting contradiction and perhaps reflects what his situation is. ‘I Know’ goes back to the very haunting sound as he talks about a girl he would rather avoid and he’s pretty adamant about it too. ‘Wow.’ is the final track of the album and it has a hard beat and bass that you have to move to. I think this is one of my favourites because I like the quirky instruments used alongside his rap partnered with a solid beat and bass.

This album is good for a late drive or perhaps pre-drinks session with different songs depending on the mood.