Our favorite French-braid wearing, diamond-bedazzled smiling, 22-year-old musician, Post Malone, is back with the release of sophomore album, Beerbongs & Bentleys. The 18-track album is a long listen, but totally worth it if you’re looking for some feel good music. Well, not feel good music in the traditional sense — more like the music that makes you want to bathe in money and take a beer bong to the face.
Though a celebration of being young and rich, Beerbongs & Bentleys does reveal the emptiness that often accompanies the fame. Opening track “Paranoid” effortlessly illustrates the anxiety Malone feels from having money: “Two hundred bands under the floor of the kitchen/A little more up in the walls and the ceilin’/Even family and friends started switchin’/Ever since I got that check, seen ’em itchin.’” Whether this is true or not, Malone’s ability to create a catchy chorus is exceptional nonetheless. The album picks up with “Spoil My Night”, a track that depicts the living-for-the-club lifestyle. The lyrics are pretty typical — boy meets hot girl in the club even though he has a “girl at home.” Though average (and slightly controversial) lyrics, the catchy chorus and bass-boosted beat will have any crowd singing along — no drinks needed.
Jumping ahead to “Zack and Codeine”, I personally start to question (and grow a little concerned) about Posty’s “Wake up, rinse my mouth with f—ing Codeine” lifestyle. Though a health concern, this track has a few tricks up its sleeve. Coming from the era saturated in Disney Channel, I do love the allusions Malone draws from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: “Man, my life so sweet, I feel like Cody/We turned the hotel lobby to a party” — genius! The airy synths mixed with Post Malone’s quasi-rap compliments the album’s high-energy tracks. Listeners get a taste of the “pillie” popping rockstar’s soft side in the acoustic ballad “Stay”. Focusing on the lyrics, one can definitely start to question Malone’s relationship with alcohol (though in an interview with HYPEBEAST, he claims to “put the fun in functioning alcoholic”). Comments like these go to show Malone is not only a talented musician, but also a laid-back comedian that isn’t afraid to laugh at himself.
With this album, listeners can focus on the lyrics and step into the world of being “Rich and Sad”, or focus on the catchy rhythms to feel like a “Rockstar” — the possibilities are endless. Though the music itself, with Malone’s laid-back-ultra-chill vocals, provides for those looking to have a good time (which is deeply appreciated), Beerbongs & Bentleys is not an album with profound ideas or statements — listeners should take Malone’s “Candy Paint” lifestyle with a grain of salt. One thing listeners should take away though is Malone’s sad, truthful claim: “All this stuntin’ couldn’t satisfy my soul/Got a hundred big places, but I’m still alone”; despite the beer bongs and Bentleys, Malone still can’t seem to find fulfillment in the fast-paced, lavish lifestyle.
