Post Malone

On his fourth album, the US star details a complicated relationship with his vices, but finds a new path forward.

“I was born, what a shame,” he sings at one point, while the song finishes on just his voice echoing alone as he cries: “Let me choke on my cigarettes and heavy debt.” Couple that with his recent comments that he’s also found happiness and it seems like everything is back on the up for Post Malone. “Then my baby found out / Now I’m living in a hotel, living in a hotel.” A storm of beats and synths nearly strays into drum’n’bass territory, as the 26-year-old shares his regrets and his state of mind. The record occupies a space somewhere between hip-hop and alt-pop, and focuses on minimal sounds for the most part. “Fell right out my fucking chair, swinging for his eye.” Later, over the intermittent beeps of ‘Euthanasia’, he revels in a clear-headed moment (“Behold, a sober moment / Too short and far between”), but the drought doesn’t last long: “I should crack one open / To celebrate being clean.” “All I wanted was a piece of decent on the side,” he tries to reason.

Billboard ranks the tracks from Post Malone's fourth studio album – his most introspective to date and first on Mercury / Republic Records.

As the second song on the album, with opener “Reputation” leading directly into its mid-tempo groove, it quickly shows listeners there was a high level of thought put into seamless tracklist transitions, both sonically and lyrically. With a bouncy, uptempo bassline, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” is one of Posty’s more pop-leaning tracks on the album. While Post live debuted this track during his appearance as musical guest on Saturday Night Live, the song hits even harder when heard in the context of the album — adding a particularly palpable low to the sonic rollercoaster ride. Hearing Post and LAROI on a track together emphasizes just how similar the two are vocally, and as a result “Wasting Angels” comes across as an impressively unified collaboration. For longtime Posty fans, there’s nothing quite like the rush of the first few seconds of “New Recording,” during which the crackle and shuffle of a Voice Memo starting can be heard, followed by the only thing more exciting than a raw recording: the sound Post picking up a guitar. The punchy “When I’m Alone” comes at just the right time on Toothache, after a stretch of slower, more introspective tracks. “When I go out, ain’t gonna hurt at all,” he sings with an eerie calm, emphasized only by a Kanye-like produced, omnipresent bleeping. On “Lemon Tree,” fans are gifted a demo-esque song from the artist that’s fairly stripped down with a beat built around an acoustic guitar. On the pensive album opener, Post continues to grapple with his fame and position in the industry — and the world. While “One Right Now,” twelve carat toothache‘s lead single, adds a kick of uptempo pop from two chart-toppers, it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the album’s narrative. His fourth full-length features an array of guests from obvious picks, like Doja Cat, Gunna, The Kid LAROI and The Weeknd to a more surprising collaborator in Fleet Foxes — and the album operates in similar fashion. As such, they’re best heard as a unit — with the tracklist transitions being a particular high point of the project.

Post Malone finally comes through with his fourth studio album.

The rapper recently revealed that he's expecting his first child with his girlfriend. In his announcement post, he included a video of him previewing the song during a livestreamed session during which he previewed several songs from the album. Twelve Carat Toothache, which is the follow-up to his 2019 album Hollywood's Bleeding, also holds his previously released joint efforts with Roddy Ricch ("Cooped Up") and The Weeknd ("One Right Now"). Post Malone recently performed "Cooped Up" along with Roddy to kickoff his appearance on Saturday Night Live with host Selena Gomez. He later came back to the stage to perform “Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol.”

The album, Twelve Carat Toothache, is his fourth overall, and, by most accounts, a more poignant, personal album for Posty.

Post Malone, “Twelve Carat Toothache.” Twelve Carat Toothache by Post Malone is an appropriately titled album that seems to focus on…

The album concludes with “New Recording 12, Jan 3, 2020,” a demo recording of “Euthanasia,” with Post Malone singing over an acoustic guitar. The song opens with Post Malone contemplating suicide with a gun, but not going through with it because, “I understand that I’m too weak.” What a reductive and recklessly written lyric, playing on tired and problematic cliches about depression and suicide being tied to weakness. The high point of the album comes far too late, on penultimate track “One Right Now.” Post Malone teams up with The Weeknd to deliver an ’80s-style synth track that feels more like a cut song from the latter’s album. He dreams of being euthanized, playing it up as “painless” with all the tact of a sledgehammer slamming a square peg through a round hole. “Euthanasia” opens with the strike of an detuned piano key, reminiscent of Ye’s “Runaway.” Posty sings about his decaying state as a result of not caring for himself. This is not a great message and the opposite of what someone contemplating suicide needs or wants to hear. On “I Like You (A Happier Song)” he expresses his love for a woman in his entourage, relishing in the connections they form traveling around the world and living in the lap of luxury. The Kid Laroi makes an appearance on the lackluster “Wasting Angels,” over another keyboard melody following a largely aimless verse from Post Malone about getting high. Post Malone becomes cartoonishly lustful (think Barney Stinson from “How I Met Your Mother” but without the charm). “Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol” similarly nears parody, as he sings about getting so blackout-drunk that he ruins every night and winds up with teeth missing—all while he wails the song title over the chorus. However, a pattern emerges here, appearing on several songs throughout this album like “I Like You (A Happier Song)” and “Insane.” He fixates on individual women while reminding listeners and the subject of his desires that he’s got plenty of women around still clawing at him. Strip club anthem “Insane” is one of the shallowest songs on the album. The song is sharply contrasted by the following “I Cannot Be (A Sadder Song).” Post Malone and Gunna express frustrations with their partners who they find are holding them back creatively and as people.