Post Malone

When Austin Post uploaded “White Iverson” to social media in early 2015, he was 19, scrounging for ramen and sleeping in a friend’s wardrobe. Plenty has changed, but Post’s appeal is more or less the same. No matter how platinum the records go, he still has the air of an ordinary guy, a Crocs-and-Bud-Light kid from the suburbs who stumbled backward into fame just by strumming what was in his heart. Post Malone (he let a rap name generator give him his alias) didn’t just look beyond genre; he broke it down, mixing the dark grandeur of trap with the anthemic release of classic rock and country. His signature tracks—“rockstar,” “Sunflower,” “Congratulations”—were both bleak and beautiful, spaced-out and mainstream, hip-hop but not quite. The bass boomed, the melodies soared and there was Post Malone in the middle, rap-singing his woes like a lonely prince self-exiled in the castle. At live shows, there were no dancers, no pyrotechnics, just Post, in a baggy football jersey with a cigarette in his hand, bringing 60,000 people into his bedroom: the pop star as moody teen. Born in 1995 in Syracuse, New York, and raised in the suburbs of Dallas, Post Malone grew up on a mix of country, classic rock, and rap: In one well-circulated anecdote, young Post would get called into the living room to entertain Dad and friends with the dance to Terror Squad’s “Lean Back.” He turned a love for the video game Guitar Hero into a love of actual guitar, playing in a metal band during school while also starting to explore hip-hop. “White Iverson” led to his 2016 debut album, Stoney; beerbongs & bentleys burrowed further into Post’s luxurious, messy melancholy, while 2019’s Hollywood’s Bleeding found him buttoning up and moving closer to the conventions of mainstream pop, all while retaining his peculiar touch. He only fortified his repertoire with Twelve Carat Toothache (2022) and AUSTIN (2023). Those projects saw him collaborate with songwriters like Max Martin and artists like Doja Cat and The Kid LAROI, with Post continuing to bring his idiosyncrasies to the mainstream. But his biggest about-face thus far may have come in 2024 when he turned toward country, first appearing on Beyoncé’s “LEVII’S JEANS” (from COWBOY CARTER), and then releasing his own F-1 Trillion, which featured Hank Williams, Jr., Tim McGraw, Morgan Wallen, and even Dolly Parton.