Post Malone- F-1 Trillion

By, Ashton Morris

Post Malone has made the long-awaited venture into country music that has felt destined in recent years with the various country songs that he has covered, and his constant praise of country music and the impact it has left on him. F-1 Trillion is nothing short of an extravaganza and celebration of current, and past, country music.

The album has support from artists such as Dolly Parton, Hank Williams Jr., Luke Combs, Blake Shelton, and Morgan Wallen, and that is not even all the artists who contributed to this record. While Post Malone’s sudden turn into country after years of rap may seem disingenuous, this album is anything but. The album starts with the tracks “Wrong Ones” (ft. Tim McGraw) and “Finer Things” (ft. Hank Williams Jr.), and these songs are nothing short of a love letter to the big, boisterous, cocky country of the 2000’s, in the same vein of Big & Rich and Trace Adkins. The next song, “Finer Things” featuring Hank Williams Jr., continues this theme of showing off and not being ashamed of success. The record really hits its groove with a four- song run of I Had Some Help (ft. Morgan Wallen), Pour Me A Drink (ft. Blake Shelton), Have The Heart (ft. Morgan Wallen), and What Don’t Belong To Me. Within these three songs, Post Malone’s voice shines and the writing shines through with verses that are incredibly fun and hooks that will leave you humming along.

These songs have burrowed into my head since my first listen of the album. As you get further into the album, the features do begin to drag as it feels like some of them were simply added because of the name attached. Some of the features feel incredibly empty and like the song could have remained the same with or without the features. This album does hit a lull in the middle of the listening, but still shines in tracks like Devil I’ve Been (ft. ERNEST) and California Sober (ft. Chris Stapleton). The record finishes extremely strong with the final four tracks being some of my favorite on the whole album. The song writing on this record massively outperformed my expectations, with a good example of this being “M-E-X-I-C-O” (ft. Billy Strings), which tells the story of a man getting paid off to flee the country by his girlfriend’s father due to the father’s disdain for the man, he then travels to Las Vegas with the money and tries to marry a woman that already has a mobster boyfriend, which results in him really fleeing to Mexico. He then meets a businesswoman in Mexico that turns out to be selling illegal things, and when she is caught, she puts the blame on him. This all results to the conclusion of the song being the man sitting in a prison in Mexico. Songs that tell a story in that way are what country music has been built on, so I deeply enjoyed this track and felt that it was one of the most fun listens of the record.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this record, as I had wanted Post Malone to make the transition to country for a good amount of time, but I was also fearful that he would just put out cash-grab, boring pop-country. While this album does stay in the realm of pop-country, it does it with better instrumentation, less lazy writing, and a true appreciation for what country is and what it should be. One of my biggest gripes with this record is that it feels slightly overproduced and maybe a little too doctored, especially when it comes to vocal production. While this album is nothing short of a huge departure from what you would expect out of Post Malone, I would argue that this is one of the best pieces of music that he has ever put out. This record is fun front to back and stays intriguing despite a little bit of a long run time. I would rate this album a 6.5, and on a relisten it may grow on me even more.