Post Malone and the Pain in His Twelve Carat Toothache

With a two year hiatus of new music from Post Malone, the announcement of fourth studio album Twelve Carat Toothache left everyone wondering just what Posty had on his mind. Now released, we find diverse production and doomsday lyricism that casts a shadow on the glittering twelve carat diamonds actually in Post Malone’s smile and enter a sonic excursion into Posty’s deepest secrets and fleeting recognitions of self - laced with the drugs, alcohol, and depression that weighs him down throughout the fame. 

Take my own life just to save yours

I got a reputation that I can’t deny

You’re the superstar, entertain us

Entertain us

Reputation

Opening track “Reputation” finds Post Malone struggling with grasping his fame and the ways it has impacted the rest of his life. Alluding to a variety of unhealthy coping mechanisms used, notably alcohol, Malone utilizes his signature rasped vibrato to welcome listeners into the changed state of his psyche since 2019’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. His pain is evident in this opening ballad, even going as far as to wish he hadn’t been born. In contrast, “Cooped Up” switches up the energy from a slow melancholy to a more uptempo bedroom beat with a Roddy Ricch feature. Referring to the over two years without new music, we follow a journey of the adventures of Post Malone since Hollywood’s Bleeding. From flushing drugs down the toilet to hide from police to buying a variety of designer brands, Malone has undergone a variety of ups and downs throughout “Cooped Up”. Roddy Ricch’s feature is energetic and shouts out Malone for taking him on tour for the first time, among mentions of fancy cars and his growth in popularity as an artist. The two distinct takes on the meaning of being cooped up generates an interesting dynamic for the track, making Roddy Ricch’s verse seem like the early version of Post Malone in terms of success and what the focus of life and fame is.

Could you be a little less sour, 

We're rottin' by the hour 

And my heart's rotten too

In every film I watch, 

I'm on the side of the bad guy

So turn around and show me that I'm better

Lemon Tree

Track three launches into some of Post Malone’s darkest thoughts as he attempts to get out of a depressive state in “Lemon Tree.” Layered on top of a simple acoustic guitar line, “Lemon Tree” uses the idiom of making lemonade out of lemons to discuss the bitter and sour hand Malone has been dealt in life. This track is expertly produced in a simple way to allow Post’s stunning lyrics and emotional rasp to explain his apples to oranges situation of life in a stripped down and brutally vulnerable way. Track four, titled “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” switches up the energy of the album yet again while still keeping the melancholy pain of Post’s direct lyricism. As he drunkenly spirals and considers calling up a former flame, “Wrapped Around Your Finger'' touches upon his reluctance to let this piece of himself go. Seemingly a double meaning lamenting that change would be a loss of his former love and also his alcoholism, Post Malone is almost reverent of his destructive lifestyle through explosive synth and vocal layering. 

For the first four tracks, it feels as though Post is swerving us between slow introspection and upbeat self-destructive tendencies, with the volley back and forth simultaneously mind-numbing and soul-shattering. “I Like You (A Happier Song)” breaks up this pattern momentarily as Posty searches to realign his focus and values with a partner to ground him. His partner-in-crime for the track is Doja Cat, whose alluring verse comments on how compatible the two relationship members are both emotionally and sexually. This track is just entirely fun and easy to listen to, even with references to Malone’s depressive and destructive tendencies that he is attempting to leave in the past. “I Cannot Be (A Sadder Song)” volleys back into pain and launches Post into a distinct 180 as he re-evaluates a restrictive relationship. Given that the album speaks on a variety of topics, this could be in reference to a romantic relationship, his fame, or his alcoholism and coping mechanisms. The ambiguity of the song’s implications makes it a catch all for each of the issues Malone is struggling with as collaborator Gunna lays into the impossible ways he’s being treated and held down. “Insane” drives the energy of the last two songs into a trap beat produced by longtime collaborator Louis Bell. Discussing his life in the spotlight with money and women, Post calls himself a bachelor and a bastard with hyper-awareness of the insanity of the niche world he is living in and contributing to. Calling the woman he just broke up with in the last track crazy and commenting on their differences, Post seems to be almost smirking throughout the track with his lack of care for what she thinks of him. This trilogy of tracks are effortlessly easy for Malone in their curation as even through the struggles he refers to, they're incredibly pop-based and marketable for easy listens and radio features.

Found my keys, then I went back out 

Someone asked me how it all went down 

I remember like it's yesterday (Like it's yesterday) 

I took a shot, took a shot, took a shot, took another shot 

Fell right out my fuckin' chair, swingin' for his eye

Then a big chrome ring flew in from the side 

I thought I died 

Why'd you have to go and fuckin' ruin my night?

Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol (with Fleet Foxes)

Recruiting indie folk band Fleet Foxes, “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” is a painful reflection of Post’s alcoholism that both destroys him and keeps him alive. As Post croons about losing teeth due to bar fights and excessive drinking, this track seems to allude to the album title of Twelve Carat Toothache itself. This song is inherently a beautiful ballad of Malone’s pain that eats away at him through his alcoholism coping methods to deal with his fame. The harmonies offered by Fleet Foxes’ Robin Peckinold create a thunderous wave of sound in the track, sweeping each line into a sonic hurricane that only spits out Post Malone once he is sufficiently battered and bruised, just alive enough to tell the tale. “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” is undeniably a standout track on Twelve Carat Toothache with unparalleled honesty and raw emotion from Post, which makes the transition into “Wasting Angels” almost have a whiplash effect. Featuring The Kid LAROI, “Wasting Angels” is a drastically different look at life as a famous person. Both artists discuss how amazing their opportunities are and make commitments to be better for themselves and for others, claiming they will stop wasting the angels of what they’ve been given. The track is well put together and makes sense as a moment of sober clarity on how privileged and special Malone’s life is, however it strikes an odd sonic chord coming directly after the riveting and expansive ballad of “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol”. 

Behold, a sober moment 

Too short, and far between 

I should crack one open

To celebrate bein' clean

Euthanasia

Following up “Wasting Angels” is an even harder switch-flip with “Euthanasia”, where Malone quite literally sings about the release of pain that will come when he dies. With just a few lines, Post Malone sinks into his darkest thoughts on “Euthanasia” and finds himself hitting rock bottom in his own mind. Even deeper within the track, Malone sings that a choir of angels will sing as he leaves, connecting into the previous track deeper with those angels he has wasted being present as he is euthanized himself. The production is quiet and allows Malone’s vocals to lead, however there is a steady beep of a heartbeat for the majority of the track, seemingly placing Post within a hospital bed as he approaches his final moments within the track. The energy shifts substantially into “When I’m Alone” which is a pop-track that pleads with his former lover to come back to him and help him sort out the mess he’s created. The track continually gets faster, driving into a more frantic and desperate energy as Post tries to save himself and reach out for help. 

As the energy builds, an inevitable crash and fall comes in the form of “Waiting For A Miracle,” which involves a melancholy piano and Post closing his eyes to wish for a better life. As he sits with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Post once again alludes to how much easier it would be if he died, leaving the pain and the fame behind. The track feels like a poem set to music, with Malone grasping at straws on both sides of the debate of his life. Lead single “One Right Now” clocks in at the penultimate track of Twelve Carat Toothache’s standard edition. With a feature from The Weeknd and a lean into Tesfaye’s signature synth-heavy pop, the track is a fabulous single but feels somewhat disjointed from the album’s general aura, particularly in its placement towards the end. As both artists sing about a former flame, cheating, and sleeping with someone as another person is on the way, we find Post falling further into his self-destructive tendencies to cope with what his life has become. The album ends with “New Recording 12, Jan 3 2020,” which is an early recording of part of “Euthanasia.” Acoustic, lilting, and painful, this demo sits in an entirely different emotional state from the finalized recorded version that somehow sounds even more broken.

Love is fuckin' hateful, hateful

Why is it you want me dead?

Callin' me unfaithful, 'faithful

But you know who you're dealin' with

How am I supposed to lay low, lay low

When things are so beyond repair?

Love is fuckin' hateful, hateful, to say

Hateful

There are two bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of Twelve Carat Toothache, “Waiting For Never” and “Hateful.” Both tracks seem to lean into the toxicity of a relationship further, connecting with the storyline of previous tracks “Insane” and “One Right Now.” These tracks, specifically “Hateful,” are more aggressively debauched and lean into previous eras of Post Malone. Neither track is necessarily needed on the album so their cut from the standard edition makes sense, however including them does make the struggles with cheating and unhealthy former relationships more visceral and concrete.

Twelve Carat Toothache carries the listener through Post Malone’s thoughts and mood swings in the last three years, which is both to the album’s benefit and detriment. While not every track is a chart-topper, when Malone finds brilliance on Twelve Carat Toothache, he truly hits a grand slam of genuine emotion and stunning production. “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol”, “Euthanasia,” and “Lemon Tree” sit as three of my immediate favorite Post Malone songs after listening due to the pure expression of grief and emotion that Malone finds in each track. The volley of emotions, tempos, and styles is at times exhausting, and leave some of the upbeat tracks (ie: “One Right Now”) feeling disjointed from the album as a whole, but the vulnerability to be so exposed with his audience creates a deep relationship that cannot be duplicated or denied for Posty. This album at length is intrinsically Post Malone as he offers up his deepest flaws and regrets, all packaged in his heart-shattering twang.