Post Malone has been one of the hottest artists recently. His unique sound and his lack of commitment to creating music for a certain genre has captivated listeners. His new album Hollywood’s Bleeding release was a shock to his fans. Compared to his other album releases, Post Malone did not have a release date that was shared with the public. The lack of the release date had some listeners feeling as if there was not a lot of “hype” surrounding this album. Yet, Post Malone did release the song “Circles” about a week before Hollywood’s Bleeding was released.
“Circles” made a lasting impression on listeners. According to Forbes magazine, “Circles” received 2.53 million streams in the U.S. within 24 hours of it being released. “Circles” joins three other songs from Hollywood’s Bleeding that have reached the Billboard’s Top 100 Hits: “Sunflower” featuring Swae Lee, “Wow”, and “Goodbyes” featuring Young Thug. The moody pop song has a mellow tempo and modern beat that makes it catchy and infectious to listen to. The lyrics “run away, but we’re running in circles” refers to a similar grief that Post Malone sang about in “Otherside”, which was on his Beerbongs & Bentleys album, according to Genius.
Some have questioned how Post Malone’s next album would follow Beerbongs & Bentleys, which was released in April 2018. According to Forbes, Beerbongs & Bentleys debuted with 431.3 million streams, which was the biggest debut of 2018 and biggest stream week ever before Drake released his album Scorpion. But, Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding was ranked the number one album according to the Billboard Top 200.
The features on Hollywood’s Bleeding are one of the factors that pushed the album to instant success. Post Malone pulls from a variety of artists such as the classic rock legend Ozzy Osbourne to iconic hip-hop rapper who has taken the world by storm in recent years, Travis Scott. Hollywood’s Bleeding also features popular artists such as Future, Meek Mill, Swae Lee, Young Thug, Halsey, Lil Baby, SZA, and Dababy. “Sunflower” featuring Swae Lee peaked on Billboard’s Hot 100 hits at number one song.
Hollywood’s Bleeding contains seventeen songs lasting about 52 minutes. The album begins with the song “Hollywood’s Bleeding.” Post Malone sings about the atmosphere of Hollywood and Los Angeles in general. In an interview with Spotify, Post Malone said that he felt like L.A. was filled with ‘vampires’ that ‘just want to suck the life out from you.’ This atmosphere is what prompted Post Malone to move out of L.A. to Utah. The song starts out at a ghost-like slow guitar tempo and then switches with a beat drop to a faster tempo in the middle of the song, changing the attitude of the song. This is one of the most popular songs off the album that was not a single along with “Take What You Want” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott.
“Take What You Want” is one of the most popular songs off Hollywood’s Bleeding since the debut of the album. The pairing of Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott featuring on “Take What You Want” was shocking since Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott come from two different times and genres in music. Yet, the pairing and combination with Post Malone’s mastery created a modern classic rock and alternative hip-hop blend. The song begins with Ozzy Osbourne setting the classic rock tone with the electric guitar. Post Malone and Travis sing in the middle of the song, while Osbourne closes the song with an electric guitar solo that brings back the nostalgia from the late 70’s. Post Malone uses figurative language in his lyrics to describe someone being a snake and taking what they want and leaving him. This song shows the raw emotions Post Malone has and how people could use his fame, money, power, etc. to their personal gain, leaving Post Malone feeling used.
Overall, Hollywood’s Bleeding features similar sounds that Post Malone has trademarked as his own and new sounds through a combination of differing features. Hollywood’s Bleeding’s popularity in comparison to his past albums Beerbongs & Bentleys and Stoney will be determined as time passes. But, considering the diverse features on the albums, the success of the singles he has released prior to the album release, and the success the album experienced within its debuting week, Hollywood’s Bleeding will be very successful.