I Had Some Help

“WHEN I TURN 30 IM BECOMING A COUNTRY/FOLK SINGER,” Post Malone tweeted in May 2015, a few months after uploading his debut single, “White Iverson,” to SoundCloud. He was just short of 20 years old, and a handful of months away from becoming a household name for his downcast but earworm-y rap melodies. As it turns out, he was off: The Texas-raised singer and guitarist was actually 29 upon the release of his first full-length foray into country music, a pairing so natural you wonder what took him so long. “I’ve always wanted to make a record like this, but for the longest time it seemed so inaccessible, because I didn’t know how the hell it worked,” Malone tells Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen. He’d never recorded with a full band, nor understood the nuances of the well-oiled Nashville songwriting machine. But he’d grown up listening to his mom’s favorites like Hank Williams and George Strait while his dad played ’90s country stars like Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw. Soon enough, Malone found himself in Nashville with heavy hitters like Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, and HARDY, jamming out until 6 am. (“I learned that’s not usually how it goes,” he adds. “It’s usually a pretty nine-to-five-type deal.”) From the tracklist, you might peg F-1 Trillion as an album where the guests do the heavy lifting, loaded as it is with the hottest names in modern country (Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll) and legends like Dolly Parton and Hank Williams, Jr. But Malone’s a natural as a honky-tonk crooner, delivering down-and-out ballads like “Losers” with the pathos cranked to 11 and boot-scootin’ boogie numbers like “Finer Things” with grit and swagger (“Platinum on my teeth, wagyu on my grill, and George Jones crankin’ out my Coup de Ville,” he crows on the latter). And though singles like “I Had Some Help” (featuring Wallen) and “Guy for That” (featuring Combs) are plagued by heartaches and hangovers, the typically moody Malone sounds like he’s having more fun than ever. He chalks part of that up to a much-needed change of scenery. “Working [in LA], I’ve always felt very distracted,” he says. “It’s nice to go to Nashville and meet people who are the best at what they do, and who are super kind and talented.” (Working with lifelong heroes like Parton, Paisley, and McGraw doesn’t hurt, either.) Part of that’s due to his own personal growth, especially since the birth of his daughter, now 2, to whom he dedicated the album’s sweet closing song. “For a while, it was heavy on me,” he admits. “And for once, I’m not sad anymore.” Nearly a decade into his career, F-1 Trillion feels like a joyful homecoming: an embrace of his youth through the lens of his improbable adulthood. “That’s the cool shit about music,” he says with a 12-carat grin. “You can love everything.”