Post Malone’s ‘The Eternal Buzz’ Album Rollout Has Been Pure Chaos - Where Does He Go From Here?

When Post Malone first started promoting his new album, The Eternal Buzz, back in April, the excitement was palpable. A double-sided record, with 20 songs apiece, from one of modern music's premier hitmakers. What more could we ask for?

Fast forward six months, and the mood feels starkly different. It's been a chaotic year for the ‘Chemical’ chart-topper, with cancelled tours, delayed release dates and messy mixed-messaging about what fans can expect from the new album.

It all started in May, barely a month after The Eternal Buzz rollout had started, when rumours started circulating online that Post was the latest artist to suffer from the now-notorious ‘blue dot fever’ - a witty name for having swathes of tour tickets unsold.

These rumours quickly built to a head, with numerous fans and outlets screenshotting the venue seating plans for Post's Big Ass Stadium Tour, Part 2 and highlighting how there were masses of empty seats - or blue dots - still left on Ticketmaster. Then, somewhat suspiciously, Post decided to cancel the first six nights of tour.

The reason he gave was that he wanted to finish The Eternal Buzz, “The truth is, I promised y’all beautiful people new music, and I don’t have the time to finish it before tour starts”.

Of course, most fans assumed this was just a cover for not selling enough tickets, but the hype around The Eternal Buzz was still strong enough that Post suggesting the project was almost complete meant we were happy to overlook the cancelled shows.

Things went pretty quiet, until on July 16th, Post treated us to the first snippet of music from his Eternal Buzz era - a rattling, trap-infused earworm by the name of ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’. It spread across TikTok like wildfire, with fans clamouring for a release date. Then, adding fuel to the flames, Post performed it for the first time in front of millions when he took the stage for the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony.

And then...well, nothing. In the months since, the hype around ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ has waned, as it became clear there was no release date in sight. And then, in August, Post suddenly decided to cancel more tour-dates, this time his Australia, New Zealand and Asia run with Don Toliver, with little explanation as to why.

It's just felt messy and chaotic the entire way through. The undersold stadiums and the awkward cancellation were both embarrassing, at best, and then any good will he'd curried through the ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ excitement is now being extinguished.

When Post started the rollout for ‘I Had Some Help’ with Morgan Wallen, he teased it roughly 50 days before he dropped it (not counting when Wallen jumped the gun with his maligned acoustic demo at Christmas). While ‘I Had Some Help’ went on to become one of the defining hits of the year, fans still generally agree that he waited far too long, and was just saved by the star-power of the collaboration. Since Post first teased ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’, it's already been 90 days.

“The buzz, ironically, is not eternal, and Post must hurry up before it fizzles out entirely”

It all smacks of disorganisation, and now, in retrospect, the ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ teaser feels like a distraction from the tour chaos, and a rushed-out snippet that meant he could perform new music on the global stage at the FIFA World Cup event.

Many fans put Post's relatively low ticket sales down to a combination of him not releasing any new music since Part 1 of the Big Ass Stadium Tour, and the fact that he was bringing Jelly Roll as his opener again. Post's affiliation with Jelly largely makes sense, with both flitting between genres with an ease that not everyone possesses.

But it's also no secret that, with his contentious divorce from Bunnie XO, the GRAMMYs furore and his subsequent Jimmy Kimmel Live speech, Jelly has - despite his best intentions to remain a symbol of unity and peace - become an increasingly divisive figure. Post, meanwhile, has always been the ultimate everyman, refusing to delve into politics and remaining a beloved figure in virtually every genre.

And then there's the mixed-messaging of The Eternal Buzz. Is it a country album? Is it a rap album? Is it half-and-half? The latter seems to be the accepted thesis, with Post continuing to hint at a return to his earlier Stoney sound and aesthetic.

But even for the king of sonic shape-shifting, there remains a significant question mark over whether he can pull a part-country, part-trap project off. Post managed to silence most of his naysayers when he released F-1Trillion because of how wholeheartedly he immersed himself in the country music world, collaborating with all the key artists in Nashville, performing at the Opry and the Ryman, and receiving crucial co-signs from legends like the late Dolly Parton and Vince Gill.

After F-1Trillion was billed as a new chapter, which would see Post cementing himself as a country artist, to now be returning to his trap sound could be perceived by some of his more traditionalist listeners as the ‘rockstar’ crooner getting cold feet. “His country tour wasn't selling, so he's trying to win back some of his rap fans”.

This doesn't feel like it's the case, in all honesty, because Post has always been an omnivore when it comes to music and its spectrum of sub-genres. It seems he's simply doing what he wants. But once again, when paired with both the tour cancellations, the New York native is arguably leaving himself susceptible to negative optics.

It just doesn't feel like all the elements of Post's public persona and his ‘brand’, so to speak, are in alignment. On the one hand, he's pushing a new designer label, Austin Post Apparel, which builds on F-1Trillion by zeroing in on Western clothing and workwear; but on the other, he's promoting the re-released of his trap mixtape, August 16, and teasing that he's resuming his ‘Stoney’ persona from those early days. The shift to country on F-1Trillion worked because it felt like an evolution, a progression, both musically and thematically, with Post singing about maturer, rawer and country-friendly topics like fatherhood, heartbreak and divorce.

Are we to expect him now to keep writing in that vein for the country half of The Eternal Buzz, before going back to rapping about wild, outrageous and alcohol-drenched parties and boasting about what watch he's bought and what car he's driving? Can ‘Yours’, for instance, really live happily on an album alongside ‘Wow.’?

It must be said that, if anyone can pull it off, it's Post Malone. After his impressive debut foray into country music with F-1Trillion, this writer's hope is that he will manage to follow this up with another collection of stellar country songs, and that he can craft The Eternal Buzz in such a way that it's cohesive with the rap side.

But whatever Post has up his sleeve, he needs to get a move on. ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ sounded incredible when he first teased it. Now, we've become tired of hearing the same short snippet on TikTok, and the appeal is starting to wear off. The buzz, ironically, is not eternal, and Post must hurry up before it fizzles out entirely.

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