Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen joins Post Malone at his LA studio, Electric Feel Studio, to discuss specific tracks off his first country album, ‘F-1 Trillion,’ his superstar collaborators, and the importance of cutting an album like this in a place like Nashville.
Tune in and listen to the full interview live for free this Friday, August 16 at 7am PT / 9am CT / 10am ET, or anytime on-demand with an Apple Music subscription at apple.co/_TodaysCountry
Post Malone Tells Apple Music He’s Always Wanted to Make a Country Album But Didn’t Know Where to Start
I gotta keep writing in Nashville. 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]. I didn’t know how band day worked. I didn’t know how session dudes worked, and I was just like, “Well, is it like these particular artists’ band that they go with all the time?”… But going in there and meeting Derek [Wells] and Larry Franklin and Paul Franklin and Craig [Young] and Dave Cohen and Aaron [Sterling], and it was just so cool. And I’m just mind blown.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music He Wrote Songs for F-1 Trillion Over the Span of Six Months
KELLEIGH: So you actually did so much of the work before that even happened because I’m assuming you guys wrote all these songs… over the course of what amount of time?
POST: Probably like six months, but we would go for a week at a time or 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 and all the buddies came in. We all just drank and fucking tossed shit around.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music He’s Happy, “Not Sad Anymore,” and That Nashville Made Him Feel Welcomed
I am happy… I can’t remember the last album that I made where I was like, I have a 2-year-old, I’m 29 years old… I’m taking it easy and slowing it down. And I think it’s really nice meeting people in Nashville that made me feel so welcome and new friends and kind of building new stuff. And for once I’m not sad anymore. I’m happy, very happy… And it was such a fresh thing going and watching this band and writing with new people, and I’m so fucking pumped.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music His Dad Helped Curate His Musical Taste Growing Up Because He Was a Wedding DJ
My Dad would wedding DJ and play DMX… He was killer too. He had to do actual records… He played everything so he would do… He just loved music. He loves Brad [Paisley] and Tim [McGraw]. And my Mom was super into the old Hank and George [Strait] and Conway [Twitty] and all that stuff, but my Dad liked a lot of the… So did my Mom, but the nineties stuff, and he loved rap and metal and everything, so it was just kind of a mishmash of music.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music “It Always Gets Better,” Referencing His Song “Nosedive” with Lainey Wilson
KELLEIGH: I’m wondering, can you see the beauty in the Nosedive when you’re in it or only on the other side of it?
POST: Well, I guess kind of both, I guess. I think after you’ve been in the Nosedive, then afterwards you kind of take every other Nosedive a little different and you say, “All right, it gets better.” You know what I mean? We’re all going somewhere and it always gets better. It fixes itself and just be strong.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music About Writing with HARDY
HARDY has such a cool melodic thing that he does because, he loves heavy shit like me. I love the heavy shit, yeah… but that melody [in “Hide My Gun”], it’s such a cool way that he approaches melody and writing songs.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music About “Hide My Gun (feat. HARDY)”
POST: I mean, I didn’t fucking really do it. And you can ask anyone, and I have an alibi for that day. But no, it’s just like, do you love me?
KELLEIGH: Do you love me? How much?
POST: Yes, ma’am.
KELLEIGH: Yeah. I think not to be heavy about it too, it’s like the bigger your star gets, the more you need the people that will have your back.
POST: That’s true… No, absolutely. And it doesn’t even have to be about a relationship.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music He Was “Freaked Out” to Record with Tim McGraw and to Write with Dean Dillon
KELLEIGH: Was there anybody that you were freaked out to get into the studio with or write with?
POST: Tim was freaky… It’s just terrifying… No, but it’s just like he just comes in normal, and I’m like fuck.
KELLEIGH: And so sweet.
POST: Oh my God, I can’t even. I was just like, I’m like, this is out of control. This is the coolest shit ever. And same with Dean. It’s so cool to write with Dean Dillon.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music More About the Recording Process for F-1 Trillion
It seemed impossible because I didn’t know how it worked, but once I got there and I learned in that first band day, I was just like, I can’t even believe it. I think I drank 30 beers and they have a big button in the studio where you could talk [back]… Oh my God. And I was like, “Hey, what if you did this? What if you did?” And they were like, “Okay, I’ll try,” and fucking Larry Franklin and fucking Paul Franklin are in there doing it. And I’m like, what the hell? This is so cool.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music About Making Lifelong Friends While Writing in Nashville
POST: I made a lot of lifelong friends on [these trips].
KELLEIGH: Tell me more about that. Who’s going to still be in your orbit in five years?
POST: That’s a good question. Anyone who will still have me. There’s so many. I’m blown away. LA is LA and working here, I’ve always felt very distracted and it’s nice to go to Nashville and really just meet people who are the best at what they do and who are super kind and super talented.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music What’s Distracting about Creating in LA
Well, there’s always something to do, which isn’t bad. It’s just not conducive to a work environment for me at least. And when I was a kid, I used to be a lot of fun, and so I’d be able to go out and then come back and then work. I’m older and I have a kid and I’m just like, hey, I want to go jam and just make music and then without being like, oh, come out to Ziggy’s house… I don’t know a guy named Ziggy… And then here [in LA], it’s always like someone wants something from you. And that’s something I didn’t see often in Nashville. I mean, I’m sure it’s somewhere, it’s just I think I found a group of really really good folks.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music About Writing Country Songs as a Kid
Even when I was a kid, whenever I was playing and recording myself and stuff, I would just write Hank Sr. songs, just in that vein, because all I had was Audacity, the free recording thing and I would just sit on my bed and write these songs. I have no idea, I don’t know what “My Son Calls Another Man,” I don’t know what that’s about, but I’d write it about the girl from science class or whatever.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music About Writing “Nosedive” with Luke Combs
We wrote that with Luke. I think it was the first week that we went [to Nashville]. It might’ve been the second or third day, and we just sat and we jammed it out. And it was with Luke and amongst other people that were in the studio. But I remember just sitting there and figuring out the melody and the kind of riff and everything. It’s just so fun writing out there. It’s so cool.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music His Most Vulnerable Song Isn’t Out Yet
KELLEIGH: Is there a song on here that feels the most intimate or vulnerable or revealing?
POST: I don’t think it’s out yet… or on the 18 that you have.
KELLEIGH: It’s not on the record proper but maybe there’s gonna be more?
POST: Oh there’s more, yes ma’am, there’s more.
Post Malone Tells Apple Music He Can’t Wait to Create More Music in Nashville
This is just, I’ve had the most… I’m happy it comes out in the music because I’m having the time of my life… I’m having the time in my life and I’m so excited. That’s why I said it’s a drug. I cannot wait to go and write more songs and get the band out.