In 2021, Post Malone sent country music fans wild when he performed covers of two songs from opposite ends of the country spectrum during an online telethon: Brad Paisley's radio hit I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song) and the most underground You Can Have the Crown by Sturgill Simpson. Malone, a pop superstar who first sparked his passion for country in 2015, performed the songs suggesting a genuine affinity and deep knowledge of the genre. The following year, bluegrass musician Billy Strings told Rolling Stone that Post Malone could play more Hank Williams songs than he could.
In other words, Posty knows his stuff about country. And that's what's helped make F-1 TrillionMalone's first country album, a release so eagerly awaited. Fans and journalists have wondered if the rapper Rockstar would have chosen the path of the outlaw (in early spring Rolling Stone saw him at dinner in Nashville with Simpson), whether he would chase the bluegrass dragon with his friend Strings or resurrect '90s country as he did during his Stagecoach concert with Paisley in April.
Malone ended up intertwining all these souls a bit in F-1 Trillionan irresistibly catchy collaborative album (15 of its 18 tracks feature guests) that, while showcasing Malone's rebellious spirit, has more in common with today's confident, radio-friendly country music than the albums by innovators like Simpson or Waylon & Willies who preceded it.
Which is not to say that F-1 Trillion is not a fun album. On the contrary, it can often be hilarious, starting from the opening track, Wrong Onesa collaboration with Tim McGraw. “I got fuck-you money, girl, come and get you some,” he dares in the chorus before passing the buck for his wild ways the same way he did in I Had Some Helpthe album's hit single featuring Morgan Wallen: 'I'm just looking for the right one/But them wrong ones keep lookin' at me” (“I'm just looking for the right one/But them wrong ones keep lookin' at me”).
Finer Things takes Malone’s game to the next level. A duet with Hank Williams Jr., the song allows both men to brag about their redneck opulence. Malone sings, “Platinum on my teeth and wagyu on my grill”; Bocephus responds, “I’m in the deer blind with the diamond ring.” It’s a competition of who can boast the most that also gives the album its title: “I got a trillion dollar limo,” they claim, with a “10-point blonde in the passenger seat.”
But if there's one thing Malone has taken the trouble to show in Nashville in recent months, it's how grateful he is to be in the country world. In several songs, in fact, he is very humble in front of the genre and its guests, even accepting to be the butt of a few jokes. Dolly Parton, for example, is present in Have a Hearta cheerful pick-up song animated by the bar's piano and Dolly's charisma. “You wanna hear something sexy?” Dolly says before her verse. In the 90s country ballad Goes Without Sayingwith vocals and guitar by Paisley, Malone mourns the loss of a girl who left without saying goodbye while vowing to change his bad-boy ways in one of the album's standouts, Devil I've Beena collaboration with Ernest, who co-wrote 10 of the LP's songs (Luke Combs, the only guest vocalist on two tracks, wrote five).
Perhaps reassured by the safety net of top-notch artists on the other 15 songs, Malone goes solo for just three of the tracks. F-1 Trillion (at least in the original edition; shortly after the album's release, in fact, he published the extended version entitled Long Bedcontaining nine other solo songs). What Don't Belong to Me It's a harmless pop country song that has more in common with Brett Young than Steve Young, while Yourswhich Malone debuted on stage in Nashville this summer, is a sweet ballad about the day his young daughter gets married. Right About You This is the best of these, an acoustic porch-friendly number that showcases some of Malone's most natural vocals.
Malone has never hidden his use of Auto-Tune. Created and perfected by Louis Bell, who produced F-1 Trillion with Charlie Handsome, the computerized voice is Posty's signature. But while it works wonders on pop hits like Sunflower or Circlesrisks turning into a sheepish vibrato in a country song. This is why Posty gives his best in the most minimal songs: In Never Love You Againa sweet waltz with Sierra Ferrell and the splendid violin of Larry Franklin; in Missin' You Like Thisa sad ballad with Combs; and in MEXICOa bluegrass about trouble in Mexico. Strings sings the harmonies, while guitarist Bryan Sutton, one of Strings' heroes, adds some acoustic touches.
Aside from Parton's cameo, the curious will probably want to hear Chris Stapleton right away in California Sober. And Chris does not disappoint them. Robust as ever in his voice, the Traveler joins Malone on a risky road trip, picking up a less-than-sweet hitchhiker. By the end of the song, they'll find they've been scammed for their whiskey, their weed, and their wallets.
TO F-1 Trillion there's nothing missing. It might, however, make you think that it doesn't add much to the conversation compared to the other country-themed albums released this year. In F-1 Trillion Malone wants to have fun and sing a certain kind of modern-day country music. He could have benefited from dusty detours and less paved roads, more gravitas, and certainly more Malone and fewer guests. For his next trip to Nashville, a more pure Posty could really go a long way.
Translation from Rolling Stone US.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM