Putting Post Malone’s new album “Hollywood’s Bleeding” into a category is a complicated endeavor. As it doesn’t follow a single genre or type of production, connected more by Malone’s melodic, radio-friendly voice than anything else. The 18 track album isn’t a solo effort, with 8 tracks all ranging from 2019 XXL Freshman Dababy to Ozzy Osbourne of “Crazy Train” fame, with the feature list being as musically diverse as the album itself. 

The critical consensus on Post’s new album is generally positive while acknowledging some misses. Vulture’s Craig Jenkins describes the album as “ Post Malone in a fitting room, trying new vibes on for size. Some work, and some don’t”. Yet the commercial response to the album has been overwhelmingly positive with the album debuting at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and coming in second only to Taylor Swift’s Lover album.

The album starts on a high note with Malone’s crooning voice on the title track “Hollywood’s Bleeding” with lines such as “Let them sharpen all they teeth” immediately contrasted with “This is more than I can handle” as the production swiftly changes to a softer tone. These transitions to soft, moodier production are ever present in the album and contribute to the generally darker, joyously pessimistic and nighlistic tone. On the song “Saint-Tropez,” Malone delivers a standard bar “I’ll take ‘em all don’t matter what the price is” but follows it up with “I said I’m sorry mama for my vices”. This contrast of bravado and hopelessness continues throughout the album, this push and pull, black and white, the darkness masked by melodic production you can’t help but bop your head to. Braggadocius lines we’ve come to expect in hip hop and dark lines that cut deep with a slight wobble in his voice lay next to each other. 

The middle stretch of the album features three songs in a row that have very interesting feature combinations, and all three of the songs “Die For Me” ft. Future and Halsey, “On the Road” ft. Meek Mill and Lil Baby, and “Take What You Want” ft. Ozzy Osbourne bring a fusion

of Malone’s unique style and the featured artist’s style. “Die For Me” features a poignant heavily autotuned guest verse by Halsey with the lasting quote “I sold 15 million copies of a break up note” demonstrating her comfort on the song as she and Malone vocalize together. 

Songs like “Enemiez” (ft. Dababy), “Sunflower” (with Swae Lee), and “Wow.” are clearly the songs crafted to be radio friendly hits, focusing more on the production and catchy tunes than Malone’s melodic voice, so enjoyment of those songs is dependent on your feelings about Postie’s safer side but the commercial consensus is strong with both 

Other than “Wow.” the album ends on a weak note with 3 of the last 5 songs being not my favorites. “Internet” features Malone’s semi standard sad crooning but he makes the odd choice of combining his vocals with a dreamy type of production, ending the already short song with a 40 second instrumental that seems oddly out of place in the album. 

The recurring theme of the album is this idea of a toxic relationship that Malone both loves and hates that he can’t leave, shown by bars like “We’re running out of reasons but we can’t let go” and “It was love at first sight, felt like you were chosen/But that blood in your veins, yeah, I know it’s frozen” and this theme leads to an overall moodier album filled with bangers of multiple genres. While I don’t think it quite lives up to the tour de force that was “Beerbongs and Bentleys” (his last album) it was a very solid album that has a few songs I’ll have on replay, with something for everyone but probably not everything for someone.