American rapper and singer Austin Post, better known by his stage name Post Malone, released his third studio album, titled Hollywood’s Bleeding on September 6. He has been one of the biggest rappers in the industry since his breakout single “White Iverson,” which came out in 2015. Post has followed this single up with a pair of very successful albums where he delivers a mix of trap, pop and R&B styles with features from huge stars like Justin Bieber. 

Hollywood’s Bleeding also has many high-profile guests, such as Young Thug and metal legend Ozzy Osborne, yes you read that correctly. If that has you scratching your head, the song itself will make you scratch even more. Who would have ever thought that Ozzy Osborne, Post Malone and Travis Scott would not work well together? Oh, that’s right, everybody. Some features are actually pretty decent such as DaBaby on “Enemies’ which is a fun, catchy tune. Post is also  outshined by his guests on numerous other tracks, mostly because it is not hard to outperform him when he his falling so short of his full potential. Like it or not, Post Malone is one of the most talented rappers out there due to his musicianship. But he fails to manifest these skills in a good majority of these songs. The only other “highlight” is “Wow.” Highlight is a generous term, this song only really acts as a tolerable finish to the album after hearing the mess that preceded it. 

A big problem of this 51 minute mess is the lyrics. One of the cheesiest lyrics of the year appears in “A Thousand Bad Times” when Mr. Malone sings “I’m gonna need some thicker armor to spend another knight with you.” Nice one, Post! Tracks such as “Saint-Tropez”,“On the Road” and “I’m Gonna Be” lyrically are just blatant flexes-for lack of a better word-about his fame, money and power. Another lyrical lowpoint comes with “I Know” where Post Malone delivers cliche lines about relationships and ex-girlfriends and blah blah blah. It all sounds so predictable at this point.

The musical direction of this album is more rock inspired than ever before, but that is not necessarily a good thing. It is admirable that Post is venturing out into new styles and genres but the execution just leaves a lot to be desired. This is obvious from the title track, which is one of the worst on the album. The first half of this song sounds like some cheesy Pop Rock band that has not been relevant for 15 years.  Other moments such as “Circles” and “Allergic” further prove that making alternative rock is not Post Malone’s thing. The former being so disgustingly clean and sanitary, it sounds like it is hand crafted to be played over the radio at Macy’s or something. The only tolerable rock-flavored song found here is “Myself” which actually has a very catchy bassline and decent vocals.

Hollywood’s Bleeding really served no purpose other than proving that Post Malone is still one of the most run of the mill rappers/songwriters today. Even is going in different directions with his sound it doesn’t save the album from it’s terrible lyrics and stale sounding instrumentals that just come off as too commercial and overdone. For these reasons, Hollywood’s Bleeding gets a 2/10.