It’s never been cooler to be country — but Post Malone isn’t here just to jump on a trend, even if it’s also an especially profitable time to be digging into this corner of the music industry. Rather, this genre leap has been plotted for nearly a decade: “WHEN I TURN 30 I’M BECOMING A COUNTRY/FOLK SINGER,” the then-rapper tweeted in 2015. And at age 29, and with his debut country album F-1 Trillion officially available, Post Malone has found himself a year ahead of schedule.
It’s no secret that as F-1 Trillion officially began to take shape, Malone enthusiastically enmeshed himself in Nashville’s idiosyncratic creative scene. He’s been vocal in recent months about his time sitting in writer’s rooms in the nondescript houses that dot 16th and 17th Avenue, where some of the best songs tend to take shape. There are rules to the way the business of country music operates, some spoken, others never addressed; Malone wanted to learn them all.
The impression a cursory listen of F-1 Trillion leaves is that Malone genuinely loves country music. He’s a kid in a candy store who assembled an impressive array of guests, with 15 of the 18 tracks on the LP including features. (Mid-morning on release day, F-1 Trillion — Long Bed arrived with nine more tracks from only Posty, a release pattern not unlike Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department rollout that this writer, at least, hopes will not become a trend.)
Post Malone has writing credits on every song here. A hefty amount of co-writing and production is courtesy of Charlie Handsome, who has extensive credits in the hip-hop space and has been working with Malone since 2015. Malone rounds things out with a team of veritable country hitmakers, including some members of the inner circle that helped send Morgan Wallen straight to the top of the charts — this includes the likes of Music Row staples Ashley Gorley and ERNEST. As hard as it is to admit, “I Had Some Help,” which features the presence of the divisive Wallen, is…so much fun. It’s catchy, effortless, and contagious, and the steel guitar is the icing on the cake.
But the best moments on the album are actually the places that are more offbeat and step away from the mainstream sound, particularly the duet with Sierra Ferrell, an excellent, genre-blending singer-songwriter whose presence feels mystical. Their joint effort, “Never Love You Again,” is a nostalgic tune that would suit the Opry stage (where Malone performed for the first time earlier this week). There’s a George Jones and Tammy Wynette quality to “Never Love You Again,” when two voices come together on the right track and that unidentifiable magic happens.
Most of the collaborations are solid, in fact. Unsurprisingly, Dolly Parton crushes it on “Have the Heart” — it’s always a treat to see her let loose like she does on the bridge of the song, and there may even be a bit of the lingering grit from her 2023 rock effort still being brought into the booth. It’s scientifically impossible for Chris Stapleton to turn in a poor vocal performance, making “California Sober” a welcome addition even if doesn’t offer any life-changing lyrics. Here’s hoping that more listeners discover the brilliance of Billy Strings, who lends his otherworldly talent to “M-E-X-I-C-O.”
Less memorable is “Hide My Gun” with HARDY, perfectly inoffensive but lacking the contagious energy or unconfined joy found in other pockets of the project. Album opener “Wrong Ones” with Tim McGraw doesn’t quite pack a punch, either; meanwhile, I’m certain that “Finer Things” is the first song on which Hank Williams Jr. has ever appeared that features a lyric about wagyu beef.
There are more than a few pockets of vulnerability on the LP, especially on the songs where Posty rides solo. “Yours” is a classic country ode to his young daughter, a spiritual successor of sorts to Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life.” On “Right About You,” Malone peels the curtain back even further: “I wrote songs about sinning, evil women, pills, and cars/ I wrote songs about drinking ’til you walked in and raised the bar/ But who am I to write rock-bottom from the highs you took me to?/ Thank God I was right about you,” he sings.
F-1 Trillion is enjoyable because Post Malone came to have fun — and, more importantly, to commit fully to a genre he has clearly long enjoyed and admired. He did the work, and it paid off. The tunes are accessible and perfectly aligned with what so many people love about the genre, but if Malone continues in this vein, the things he should chase are those moments where his heart is totally on the line. For most listeners, this album won’t be life changing, and it’s certainly not a genre-altering landmark a la COWBOY CARTER . But it’s good, and Malone cares so much about the work that it makes it just a bit better.
Hours before the album dropped, Malone hosted a release party at Losers, a longstanding dive in the heart of midtown in Nashville. Elated that F-1 Trillion was so close to being out in the world, the artist took the stage to express his thanks and excitement before telling the small crowd to grab a green tea shot, as they were free all evening. A confused bartender turned to me and said, “We don’t have green tea shots. We don’t have any shots tonight.” But Posty was already gone in a puff of smoke, Bud Light and lit cigarette in hand. He had nothing to worry about; his dream had already come true.
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