Post Malone is a 26 year old rapper, singer, songwriter & producer from Grapevine, Texas who rose to stardom in 2015 with the single “White Iverson”. This resulted in him signing to Republic Records, where’s made himself home ever since by dropping a total 3 full-lengths & a mixtape in that span of time. Now even though I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Posty’s work, there’s no denying that he has a decent amount of tracks that I genuinely enjoy like “Congratulations” as well as “rockstar” & who could forget “Sunflower”? Hell I even liked his sophomore effort beerbongs & bentleys, which I maintain is the crown jewel of his discography. It’s been almost 3 years since we last heard from him in the form of Hollywood’s Bleeding, which didn’t resonate to me because I felt like he was just riding the emo rap coattails. That being said, I didn’t know what to expect from this 4th album of his given how long it’s been since he’s put out music.
“Reputation” is a passionate piano ballad produced by longtime collaborator Louis Bell to open up the album with Posty advising the world to save themselves whereas “Cooped Up” with Roddy Ricch has somewhat of a hyphy flare to it & the way they both go on about pullin’ up to a party is just so boring. “Lemon Tree” takes a more acoustic route singing that he’s shit out of luck, but then “Wrapped Around Your Finger” goes full blown dance-pop to whine & cry about missing his ex.
Meanwhile on “I Like You (A Happier Song)”, we have Doja Cat accompanying Post for a moody trap banger with a playful attitude to it leading into the Gunna-assisted counterpart “I Cannot Be (A Sadder Song)” asking what they want them to be over a cloudy instrumental. “Insane” obnoxiously describes a bitch that went from classy to nasty over a cavernous beat just before “Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol” comes through as my favorite off the album, as Posty wears his heart on his sleeve about alcoholism & the production is intense.
The Kid Laroi comes into the picture for “Wasting Angels”, which unfortunately wastes a synth-heavy beat for them to spit some unlikeable bars about how crazy their lives are while “Euthanasia” has a more skeletal approach in terms of sound singing that it’s not gonna hurt when he passes. “When I’m Alone” fuses these synths & punky drums only to spill more breakup melodrama while the song “Waiting For a Miracle” is yet another piano ballad about how he stays fucked up. The penultimate track “1 Right Now” is a laughable “Blinding Lights” ripoff which is a shame since The Weeknd carries it & the closer “New Recording 12, Jan 3, 2020” ends the album with an unfinished acoustic demo.
For this to be Posty’s comeback after 3 long years, I can say that I walked away from 12kt Toothache enjoying it even less than Hollywood’s Bleeding. Primarily because it seems like there’s little to no risks being taken as far as the overall sound goes & he sounds mostly uninspired throughout a good portion of the 43 minute run.
Score: 1.5/5
Legends Will Never Die 