Post Malone — beerbongs & bentleys ANALYSIS & REVIEW
Published 05/03/2018
This is a quintessential “horrible, but we’re stuck with it” album. It has seeped though our modern culture and plays a convincing trick on the minds of those who either don’t actually understand musical substance or give musical substance unnecessary context relative to the musician. In either case, it can blind people from what the music’s worth is at its core.
As a work of music, this album is worth next to nothing. It does two things well, and neither of them have anything to do with musical weight or resulted emotion: it uses linear repetition as an obvious structural tool, and it has thematic lyrical diversity. That’s honestly all that this album accomplishes as a single work, and it doesn’t matter in the slightest. It would’ve mattered had there been any semblance of interest in musical ideas paired with this structure, but I’m not kidding when I say I find no way to rationalize most every decision regarding the musical selling points.
I don’t wish to spend too much time talking about this, and luckily my main gripes with this album can be summarized. The repetitive material, from using the same 5-second rhythmic and pitch pattern over and over again to the overly blatant AB form, was so awful it made me feel stupider having listened to it. Examples are rampant; the songs “Better Now” and “Stay” were the only two that had a passable repetitive motive, and even then they are rammed down the listener’s throat like they’re a stroke of genius. Not even close. It seemed as though Post Malone thought that the sheer action of repetition was the key to his success, when in reality that just showed a complete lack of actual musical thought. This is like if preschool was an album.
Perhaps it didn’t all have be this wretched experience; even with terrible forefront linear ideas, there could have been some interesting leverage in a cool, thoughtful, moving sound. Unfortunately, the sound was a huge weak spot as well. It was sparse, empty, void of interesting textural additions, and surrounded by an unenthusiastic drum machine that, to use a modern term, doesn’t go hard at all. Lots of this was garbage.
The only redeeming factor here is that some harmonic progressions rose above being the preschool spoon-fed mess that the rest of the album was, with some rather tolerable four chord usages that weren’t as bland as they would normally come. Rhythm was non-existent, though, and so was talent. Those listening to this are probably the ones who don’t do so well in school or social situations, if you know what I mean. Who cares what it’s better than, or what Post Malone may have done to surprise you given his past work. It’s still crap.
