To look back and think about Post Malone’s come-up over the past few years makes it even that much more insane. The Grapevine, Texas native first jumped onto the scene in 2015 with “White Iverson” and hasn’t left since. His latest album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, is one of the most highly-anticipated of the year.  

At this point, Malone has broken numerous records and is expected to break more with his latest album Hollywood’s Bleeding. The project features previously released singles “Wow.”, “Goodbyes”, ”Sunflower”, and “Circles”, the latter of which is a genre-blending hit indicative of what we may hear on this new record.

Enough talk, let’s jump right in and see what Posty has presented us with this time around!   

First impressions 

• The Good: The most interesting part about this album after my first listen is the variety of styles that Post displays. You have his typical hip hop bangers, R&B tracks, and some alternative-sounding songs all in one album. The best part is that he sounds good in all of these different styles, making for a better full album.  
• The Bad: Even though the songs sonically work, the lyrics and subject matter can be a bit boring. We can only hear about relationship struggles, cigarettes, and Bud Light so many times before it becomes borderline boring.

Lyrics/Flow 

• The Good: As I just mentioned, Posty’s flows work very well for the type of music he created this time around. This doesn’t even feel like a hip hop project to be honest and that isn’t the worst thing. He does display some nice rapping flows on a few tracks, which was honestly a pleasant surprise. His singing is the best thing about this project and shows how truly versatile he has become.    

• The Bad: Even though his flows do sound nice, he only has about three or four different ones. At times the only thing that differentiates the tracks from each other is the beat. His singing can sound exactly the same at times and makes it hard to distinguish the cuts throughout the project.
• Score: 7.5/10

Beats 

• The Good: To be honest, Post is one of the rare artists these days that can sound good over absolutely any type of beat. There isn’t a single song on here that he sounds out of place, and that shows where he’ll go in the future. Don’t be surprised if he dabbles in many other genres very soon because he certainly has the talent for it.  

• The Bad: There really isn’t much bad news to give about the beats on this album. This is Posty at his most experimental yet and it works very well. One thing I’d like however is if we heard him over more hip hop beats again. I respect that he’s a full-blown pop star now, but there are some fans that love his hip hop sound.
• Score: 9/10

Replayability 

• The Good: The variety in sound on Hollywood’s Bleeding definitely makes me want to listen to it more. It is a lot to digest off one listen, so I think it is a lot better to give it multiple listens. There are 17 tracks that span 51 minutes, which isn’t that tall of an order to listen to. I’m glad that Malone didn’t bloat the album with 20+ songs because then it may be annoying to listen through.    

• The Bad: Realistically, this album probably isn’t for everyone. Posty’s singing sounds really good on all of the tracks but it can admittedly get a bit boring over a whole album. If you aren’t a huge fan of him, this project may sound exactly the same as his other work.
• Score: 7.5/10

Standouts

• Man, it is actually quite difficult choosing which songs are the best on this project because they are all good. If you simply wanted to skim this project, here are the songs you should check out that standout from the rest (not including previously-released songs): “A Thousand Bad Times”, “Take What You Want”, “Internet”, and “Myself”. 

Final thoughts

While writing this review, I listened to the album fully through about five times. After listening to it so much, I can say that I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I will admit that on my first listen through I wasn’t that impressed because it seemed that Post went full popstar and that’s it. But following each listen, I can see that’s not the case. 

On this new album, Post Malone has finally realized who he wants to be as an artist. Yes it is obvious that he has fully embraced his hit-making abilities, but this project is more than that. I can tell that he is making music that he truly does want to make. He isn’t just a hit-making machine in a proverbial music sweatshop, he is a true artist.

I won’t say that this is his best album or the best he can create, because it honestly isn’t. I still think that his debut album Stoney is Post’s best work, but he can create an even better body of work than that (a concept album).

Hollywood’s Bleeding is the closest thing that we have to a Post Malone concept album. He isn’t fully there yet, but I think his next project could get him there and be considered a classic. I just hope that Republic Records will allow him to find a middle ground between being a straight hitmaker and an artist with the ability to create a classic record.   

Final Score: 8/10

K-UTE Radio/University of Utah does not own any images in this piece.