F-1 Trillion

''F-1 Trillion'' is the sixth studio album by American musician Post Malone. It was released through Mercury and Republic Records on August 16, 2024. The album marks Malone's transition to country music and features guest appearances from Tim McGraw, Hank Williams Jr., Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Ernest, Sierra Ferrell, Chris Stapleton, Hardy, and Billy Strings. The album was produced by Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, and Jonathan Hoskins.

The album was supported by the release of five singles: " I Had Some Help", " Pour Me a Drink", " Guy for That", " What Don't Belong to Me", and " Losers". Upon release, ''F-1 Trillion'' received mostly positive reviews from music critics and charted at number one in Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. An extended edition of the album, subtitled ''Long Bed'', was released twelve hours after the standard edition.

Background and composition

In June 2022, Malone was interviewed by ''The Howard Stern Show'', in which he was asked by host Howard Stern about potentially making a country album in the future: "To be honest, there's nothing stopping me from taking a camera or setting up in my studio in Utah and just recording a country album o puton YouTube. I'm allowed to do that. I'm a human being". Malone began exploring country music for the first time in 2023, when he appeared on a re-recording of " Pickup Man" by Joe Diffie, reaching the Hot Country Songs chart for the first time at number 34. In March 2024, he appeared on Beyoncé's country album ''Cowboy Carter'' as a featured artist on the track " Levii's Jeans", later peaking at number 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

''F-1 Trillion'' features collaborations with numerous artists from the country genre, including Tim McGraw, Hank Williams Jr., Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Ernest, Sierra Ferrell, Chris Stapleton, Hardy, and Billy Strings, while the album's production was handled by Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, and Hoskins. It is a country and country pop album. In an interview with Apple Music, Malone explained the recording and writing process of the album:

"I've always wanted to make a record like this, but for the longest time, it seems so inaccessible because I don't know how the hell it works. But going in there and meeting Derek and Larry Franklin and Paul Franklin and Craig and Dave Cohen and Aaron, and it was just, like, so cool. And then it's crazy to watch Derek Charta a playthrough of a voice memo and chart it and then go in there and they know it immediately. But we would go for like a week at a time or like a week and a half and around work and everything, and we would go and just write. And there's a lot of writers on these songs because we just sat and we stayed up till, like, six in the morning. All the buddies came in. We all just drank and fucking tossed shit around.  And I learned that that's nothing usually, how it goes. Instead, we have, like, Luke and Mo and Hardy, and we're just sitting. And we got so many writers and not even necessarily there to write, just to, like, jam and then hang out."

Promotion

Singles

On May 10, 2024, Malone released the lead single of the album, " I Had Some Help", which features American country music singer Morgan Wallen. Commercially, the song debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with the highest weekly sales and streams since 2020, giving Malone his sixth number-one song. On May 16, 2024, Malone performed the unreleased song "Never Love You Again" and "I Had Some Help" at the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards in Frisco, Texas. On June 21, 2024, Malone released the second single of the album, " Pour Me a Drink", featuring American country music singer Blake Shelton, and also shared the album's cover art. On July 16, Malone performed at Music City's Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee. The set included the unreleased songs " Yours" and "Hide My Gun", with HARDY joining him for the latter song. On July 26, 2024, Malone released the third single of the album, " Guy for That", which features American country music singer Luke Combs. The track listing of the album was confirmed on July 31 via social media. An extended edition of the album, subtitled ''Long Bed'', was released less than 12 hours after its release, featuring nine additional tracks. "What Don't Belong to Me" was sent to Italian radio stations as the album's fourth single on September 12, 2024, followed by "Losers" featuring Jelly Roll on January 9, 2025.

Tour

On June 25, 2024, Malone shared the dates for the F-1 Trillion Tour, which began on September 8, 2024, at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah, and concluded on October 27, 2024, at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater in Austin, Texas.

Critical reception

''F-1 Trillion'' was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received a weighted average score of 71, based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.

Robin Murray of '' Clash'' gave the album a positive review, commending Malone's creativity and his commercial appeal. Murray states that even though ''F-1 Trillion'' at times is "struggling beneath its own weight", the album "is a love letter to the genre". Neil Z. Yeung from AllMusic reviewed ''F-1 Trillion'' positively, describing the album as "full-on country foray" and opining that the album will please fans of the country music genre. In a positive review, Joseph Hudak of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that the album would have benefited from containing fewer features and more solo songs from Malone. Hudak praised "the most stripped-down" tracks, highlighting "Never Love You Again", "Missin' You Like This", and "M-E-X-I-C-O". Writing for ''The Independent'', Helen Brown praised Malone's songwriting skills and states that the album showcases his skills in songcraft. She wrote that although ''F-1 Trillion'' "loses some of his distinctive sound – and has none of the cool experiments of Beyoncé's record – it also showcases his undeniable songcrafting 'sic''chops. Drivetime DJs are going to love it, and their listeners are all going to feel they're at the wheels of beaten-up American trucks".

Writing for ''Pitchfork'', Meaghan Garvey opined that Malone's "shift to fun, low-stakes pop-country feels so right, you wonder why it took so long". Garvey comments further on Malone's entry into the country music scene, writing that "there's enough proof here that Post has the voice, demeanor, and goodwill to easily ingratiate himself into the Nashville scene". Neil McCormick of ''The Telegraph'' commended the album, writing that it represents "pure good ol' boy country" and that "Malone proves genuinely good at this stuff, with a sharp lyrical wit and sweet singing voice that rises to heights of soulful passion when needs be, notably on the disco flecked 'What Don't Belong to Me' and twisty alt-folk of 'Nosedive'".

In a mixed review, Michael Cragg of ''The Guardian'' believed the album to be "a little formulaic" and in need of more risk-taking by Malone. Cragg wrote that "there's a lot to enjoy about ''F-1 Trillion'', and it feels tailor-made for chart domination, but as much as Malone felt hip hop was limiting his oeuvre, it at least gifted him moments to really let loose, as on the ludicrous epic ' Take What You Want' featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott. On ''F-1 Trillion'', trussed up in full country cosplay, he's shooting a little too straight". In a review for '' Consequence'', Mary Siroky wrote that "''F-1 Trillion'' is enjoyable because Post Malone came to have fun — and, more importantly, to commit fully to a genre he has clearly long enjoyed and admired. He did the work, and it paid off. The tunes are accessible and perfectly aligned with what so many people love about the genre, but if Malone continues in this vein, the things he should chase are those moments where his heart is totally on the line". Garvey opined that "most of the collaborations are solid" on the record, praising Dolly Parton's performance on "Have The Heart", while criticizing the song "Hide My Gun" and the opening track "Wrong Ones" for their lack of energy. Ammar Kalia of ''The Observer'' described ''F-1 Trillion'' as "surprisingly enjoyable", while deeming it too long, "overly polished and missing the instrumental virtuosity central to the genre".

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''F-1 Trillion'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 250,000 album-equivalent units, including 80,000 in pure album sales. With the deluxe edition included, the album's tracks earned a total of 212.86 million on-demand streams in its first week. It is Malone's third album to reach number one on the chart, and sixth album to reach the top-ten. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart, becoming Malone's third to debut at that position. The album also topped the charts in Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.

Accolades

Track listing

All tracks produced by Louis Bell and Charlie Handsome, with "I Had Some Help", "Guy for That", and "Devil I've Been" also being additionally produced by Hoskins.

Personnel

Musicians

* Post Malone – lead vocals
* Craig Young – bass
* Aaron Sterling – drums
* Derek Wells – electric guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 8, 9, 15)
* Larry Franklin – fiddle
* Dave Cohen – keyboards
* Louis Bell – programming
* Charlie Handsome – programming
* Paul Franklin – pedal steel (tracks 1–4, 6, 9–11, 13–15, 18), steel guitar (8)
* Wes Hightower – background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 6–8, 12–18)
* Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10–13, 16, 17)
* Tim McGraw – vocals (track 1)
* Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 5, 14, 18)
* Hank Williams Jr. – vocals (track 2)
* Morgan Wallen – vocals (track 3)
* Brent Mason – electric guitar (tracks 4, 7, 12, 16, 17)
* Justin Schipper – steel guitar (track 4), pedal steel (7, 12, 16)
* Blake Shelton – vocals (track 4)
* Dolly Parton – vocals (track 5)
* Brad Paisley – electric guitar, vocals (track 7)
* Luke Combs – vocals (tracks 8, 13)
* Lainey Wilson – vocals (track 9)
* Jelly Roll – vocals (track 10)
* Ernest – vocals (track 11)
* Sierra Ferrell – vocals (track 12)
* Chris Stapleton – vocals (track 14)
* Hardy – vocals (track 15)
* Billy Strings – vocals (track 17)

Technical
* Louis Bell – production, engineering, vocal production
* Charlie Handsome – production
* Hoskins – co-production (tracks 3, 8)
* Ted Jensen – mastering
* Ryan Gore – mixing
* Trent Woodman – engineering (tracks 1–7, 9–18)
* Eric Lutkins – engineering (track 1)
* Byron Gallimore – vocal engineering (track 1)
* Joey Moi – vocal engineering (tracks 3, 15)
* Scott Hendricks – vocal engineering (track 4)
* Andrew Boullianne – engineering assistance
* Collin Reynolds – engineering assistance
* Grant Morgan – engineering assistance (tracks 1–8, 10–18)
* Nick Mac – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 2, 15)
* Ryan Oswald – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 2, 15)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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2024 albums
Post Malone albums
Mercury Records albums
Republic Records albums
Albums produced by Louis Bell
Country albums by American artists