“Hollywood’s Bleeding” is the third album from New York artist Post Malone. Malone has a huge following from his previous albums “Stoney” and “Beerbongs and Bentleys” and his unique style of combing pop music and rap music make him an interesting artist to listen to.
On this album, he discusses the issue of being a part of Hollywood and how it affects him. “Hollywood’s Bleeding” tells this story with a depressing instrumental with a guitar providing a cushion for the song. Then the song switches to a trap beat while Malone delivers his verse. He mentions things like “City up in smoke, it’s only ash when it rains/For all these demons, wish I could just go on". The song ends off with rock-inspired instrumental that matches the vocal performance that Malone is delivering.
“Saint-Tropez” discusses the lavish lifestyle that Malone is currently living. He describes this with a tropical trap beat. Malone is very average with his flow and boring voice. The subject also was not interesting, as he just talks about his riches.
In “Enemies,” Malone describes how mainstream music impacts his relationships with his friends. The beat on this song sounds decent, with Malone delivering a great performance with his vocals. Dababy talks about his new-found fame in the mainstream industry and how great it is. However, he also sends a warning to his enemies in a surprisingly comical way. Malone and Dababy display some very good chemistry and they should definitely keep making music together.
“Circles” is about how Malone is trying to keep a strong relationship with a girl. This song is of the worst on this album. While the subject matter is good, the execution is not enjoyable at all. The beat has one tone, which is, at least, a decent pop beat, and Malone’s performance here is one of the worst on the album.
“Die for Me” is an interesting song with features from Future and Halsey. Malone and Future give their perspective on unfaithful women in relationships and they have some good chemistry and explain their situations very well. Halsey provides a different perspective which showcases the women’s side on this story. Her vocals are a breath of fresh air from the autotuned voices that Malone and Future provision.
“On the Road” is a song about the work ethic of Malone, Meek Mill, and Lil Baby. Malone starts by talking about how his wisdom is continuingly growing. The beat has a nice bounce to it with Malone flowing very well. Meek Mill sounds very tame and doesn’t elevate the song at all. Lil Baby also sounds very uninterested, with a lazy flow. These artists working together should make a better song than this.
“Take What You Want” is the best song on the album, with its three artists; Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott, and Malone, discussing their broken hearts from relationships. This song is amazing from beginning to end with great features from Osbourne and Scott. Osbourne starts the track with the chorus that sounds great over the rock instrumental. Once the song switches to a trap beat you get some solid verses from Malone and Scott. Malones verse deals with emotional baggage while in a relationship, while Scott’s discusses how his relationship involves alcohol and sexual intercourse. The ending of the song includes an amazing guitar solo, which puts a cherry on top of this crazy song.
“Sunflower” is one of the most popular songs on the album because of its connection to “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.” The production provides a laid-back pop beat with Swae Lee delivering some great vocals. Malone then comes and delivers similar verses to Lee’s with a different context. This represents the symbols of a loyal girl who doesn’t receive the affection that she deserves.
Overall this is a solid album from Malone and definitely shows improvements in his songwriting and his musical talent. However, he still needs to include more of a variety in his songwriting, as he mentions relationships a lot in this album. Malone should also think about diving into more genres of music if it creates more songs like “Take What You Want”. 3.5/5
Courtesy of Republic Records.
