Post Malone’s third studio album finally sees him take a direct plunge into the world of pop music, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at its rapper-heavy guest list. Hip-hop is pop now, and nobody knows this better than Malone. Strange as it is, the man with the face tattoos that you’ll never catch without a can of Bud Light just might be current music’s universal solvent.

In line with the darker tones of his recent supernaturally-charged music videos, Malone aims for more of a cohesive sound than his past works here, settling into a groove of spaced-out, melancholy and reverberating trap-pop.

The opening title track really shows how much of a chameleon he can be, with two beat-switches as the track flits effortlessly from pop to trap to rock – Ozzy Osbourne of all people shows up on “Take What You Want,” and doesn’t seem out of place at all.

And of course, Malone already racked up three smash hits from the album before it was even released. His ear for hooks and melodies in any genre is pretty unparalleled.

Regardless of how you feel about the awkward kid who made “White Iverson” becoming one of the world’s biggest pop stars against all odds, you’re definitely going to come away from Hollywood’s Bleeding with one of the songs stuck in your head for a week.

Best Track: Staring At The Sun (Ft. SZA)

MORE REVIEWS

Indistinct Conversations

KiCK i

Beer and Loathing

Rough and Rowdy Ways

Shadow Offering 

Forever + Ever x Infinity

GENE

Planet’s Mad