AUSTIN - Album Review
A year and some change after 2022’s Twelve Carat Toothache, Post Malone is back again, gracing a pair of the forbidden swim trunks on the cover of his latest installment, AUSTIN. With this new release, the genre-bending Posty, who began his career with heavy hip-hop influences, has doubled-down on the pop style that has maintained his relevance on radio and charts.
Well, it’s more of a triple-down, with an argument to be made for a quadruple-down. Because there is not one hip-hop track over the course of AUSTIN's 17 tracks.
Don’t get me wrong, he gets close. The choir-infused “Something Real” swells enough during the verses and is the closest we get, and the pounding bass on “Texas Tea” is almost enough to convince you. Outside of that, if you’re looking for a hip-hop album à la Stoney or beerbongs & bentleys, you’re going to be left disappointed.
However, that’s perhaps Post’s most impressive quality in his music: his ability to avoid being pigeonholed as a hip-hop artist, despite the many millions who want to do so. We all know of Post Malone’s talents and range, both within and outside his vocals. His musical influences pull from Bob Dylan to Kurt Cobain, and the genres of his performances have been as numerous and scattered as his face tattoos:
· His Nirvana tribute livestream was unironically one of the best assortment of Nirvana songs that those born after 1994 may ever hear (the floral dress is icing on the heart-shaped cake)
· Oh yeah, and who can forget the live cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” alongside some scrubs named Slash from Gun N’ Roses (stupid name) and Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers (stupider name)
· **I'm purposefully not mentioning his cover of Hootie & the Blowfish's "I Only Wanna Be With You," and his cover of Sturgill Simpson's "You Can Have the Crown," and his recent feature with Noah Kahan. Because you get the point.**
Which leads me back to the tracks on AUSTIN. We know that Austin Richard Post’s talents are utilized yet limited when being used in a hip-hop capacity, and outside of that realm, he is arguably the most talented musician from a balanced standpoint. For years, fans have been waiting for that country Post Malone album, or that rock Post Malone album. Yet instead, 2023 rolls along and we come face-to-face with a pop album, bookended and sparsely sprinkled with acoustic tunes.
Is that a bad thing? You decide. For me, it’s less bad and more surprising. I had expected the trajectory of his music to continue to deviate from hip-hop as it has with Twelve Carat Toothache’s release, but not as quickly. In fact, Post hasn’t had a true-to-form hip-hop song crack the Billboard top-10 since December 2018 with “Wow” (which doesn’t mean he’s lacking top-10 songs -- he’s had five since then).
But there is good news, for even in his fully-converted bubblegum pop form, there’s enough grit in his lyrics to add that beloved crunch that makes Post stand out. In comparison, let’s look back at Twelve Carat Toothache. In Toothache, Post lets us peek behind the closed curtains of his mind, and we are shown undeniable darkness. It does not take a PhD in Postology to decipher what “Euthanasia” and “Waiting for a Miracle” are about, and this dark theme is prominent through the tone of the rest of that album. Now looking at AUSTIN, sure, it starts off with the beautifully grim “Don’t Understand,” and the raw passion and defeat of “Green Thumb” makes it this album’s “Feeling Whitney,” but guess what – there are rays of sunshine peeking through!
“Speedometer” is so pop it hurts, yet it's a shower of positive, optimistic feelings throughout. Just like in the chorus of “Novacandy,” the song makes me want to overdose on dopamine. If you had “Post Malone singing about joining a cult” on your Bingo board, then the infatuated “Sign Me Up” gives you permission to check it off. And even topics such as self-hatred and alcoholism are disguised in sugar-coated bunny masks with the catchy singles “Mourning” and “Enough is Enough,” a juxtaposition that wasn’t present in Toothache. For the most part, the more vulnerable lyrics are saved for the acoustic tracks, such as the somber “Socialite” and the unfiltered reality of “Overdrive.”
All of this to say: AUSTIN is bipolar. The tracklist is a back-and-forth battle between exposed emotion and carefree energy. Literally “Socialite” lacks self-worth in the first verse, then in the second, calls his girlfriend Shrek because “she got a donkey.” Add that to my list of lyrics that have changed my life.
We get the full experience of Post Malone's songwriting, which has further solidified his brand of music as an artist that wears his lyrics on his sleeve and consistently incorporates that emotion into each part of his music. Although he’s making a more decisive approach to his style, he’s staying true to what has kept him top-of-mind to millions across the country: catchy tunes and rock-influenced vulnerability. Sadly, hip-hop falls behind those two, so doesn’t make the cut in AUSTIN. Although I don’t see hip-hop tracks leaving Post’s arsenal permanently, he’s still able to keep himself well-rounded without them.
Top 3 Songs: Texas Tea, Green Thumb, Novacandy
Rating: 7.1 sexualized Shrek lyrics /10
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