Jackson Lovchuk
Contributing Writer
On Sep. 6, hip-hop artist Post Malone released his third studio album “Hollywood’s Bleeding.” Although Post Malone began as a hip-hop artist, this album is everything but a traditional hip-hop album. The project blends multiple genres including pop, rock and hip-hop, to name a few. In total, “Hollywood’s Bleeding” lasts 52 minutes and includes 13 new songs with four previously-released singles. With the exception of “Circles,” which was released on Aug. 30, all of the previously-released singles “Sunflower,” “Goodbyes” and “Wow” peaked inside the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s safe to say that with the commercial success of Post Malone in 2019, this album was one of the most highly anticipated projects of the year and it certainly lived up to the expectations.
The album begins with the title track “Hollywood’s Bleeding” which is one of the stronger tracks on the album and establishes the overarching message of the album. In the track, Post Malone details his relationship with Hollywood and the superficiality of the city and its residents. He claims that the residents of Hollywood identify successful people and attempt to attach themselves to that person. These residents proceed to suck everything they can out of successful people until they have nothing left to give. This is similar to vampires sucking the blood out of their victims, which is why the song begins with the line, “Hollywood’s Bleeding, vampires feedin.’” Malone continues this theme on the third track of the album “Enemies” featuring artist DaBaby. Both artists discuss testing their friendships to see who really cares about them. Instead of remaining friends, these vampires become the enemies of both artists as they begin to separate themselves from the Hollywood lifestyle. On DaBaby’s verse he explains it best, saying, “friends are like the autumn, every year they leavin’ And I’ma rake ‘em in a pile, throw ‘em in a bag.
After a few mediocre songs, the album gets back on track with the projects’ three best songs all following each other one after the other. Each song follows the same conventions: comprised of three artists, lasting about four minutes, beats that gradually increase speed while continually adding layers and incredible transitions between each artist. This section of the album begins with “Die For Me” featuring Future and Halsey, and is followed by “On The Road” featuring Meek Mill and Lil Baby, and “Take What You Want” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott. This twelve-minute segment may be the best uninterrupted twelve minutes of any album this year. Each artist brings their own unique style to produce entertaining songs with incredible replay value. Thematically, these three tracks continue the albums message of dealing with fake friends that only care about the money and fame of each artist. Listening to the artist’s personal experiences with superficial friends allows the listener to understand how difficult it is for celebrities to determine who really cares about them and who is just there for the benefits.
After these three incredible tracks, the album takes a noticeable dip in quality. The remaining songs are either previously released singles, or formulaic pop tracks that will lose their intrigue over time.
“Hollywood’s Bleeding” was a success that lived up to the rigorous expectations created by Post Malone’s enormous fanbase. His ability to transition between genres allowed him to make an album with something for everybody regardless of their taste. The chilling beats paired with Malone’s melodic voice and the myriad of quality features in the album makes this album stands out from other albums released so far in 2019. I would say that this project is in on par with both of his previous albums “Beerbongs and Bentleys” and “Stoney.” The album is projected to sell 500,000 units in its first week ensuring it will take the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart when it becomes eligible on Sep. 16. Once again, Post Malone has created one of the highest quality and commercially successful albums of the year cementing his place as a titan in the popular music industry.