Stoney (album)

Background

On August 14, 2015, Post Malone released his debut single, called "White Iverson". The single became his breakthrough song. Due to his success with that single, Malone collaborated with a number of prominent rappers such as 50 Cent, Young Thug and Kanye West, among others. Malone and Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber verge into this friendship, when Bieber made Malone as one of the opening acts for his Purpose World Tour to support the release of his album, Purpose (2015).

On June 9, 2016, Malone made his national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing a track, called "Go Flex". In June 2016, XXL editor-in chief Vanessa Satten, revealed that Malone was considered to be on XXL's "2016's Freshmen Class" magazine cover, however, she was "told by his camp that he wasn't paying attention to hip hop so much. He was going into more of a rock / pop / country direction." Malone denied these claims, saying: "My love of music should never be questioned... I shouldn't be chastised in whichever way I see fit." He went on to explain that his latest mixtape, as well as his upcoming album are both hip-hop: "I have a hip-hop album coming out in August... I made a HIP HOP mixtape promoting my HIP HOP album."

In May 2016, in preparation for the release of Stoney, Malone released his debut mixtape, called August 26th. The name was a reference to the original release date for Stoney, however, the album suffered numerous delays.

Singles

The lead single from the album, called "White Iverson" was released on August 14, 2015. The song was produced by Post Malone himself, alongside Rex Kudo. The song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The second single from the album, called "Too Young" was released on October 9, 2015. The song was produced by FKi, Foreign Teck and Justin Mosely.!

The third single from the album, called "Go Flex" was released on April 21, 2016. The song was produced by Charlie Handsome and Rex Kudo. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The fourth single from the album, called "Deja Vu" was released on September 8, 2016. The song features a guest appearance from Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber, while the production was handled by Frank Dukes and Vinylz.

"Congratulations" was first released as the album's first promotional single on November 4, 2016. It was later sent to rhythmic radio as the fifth official single from the album. The song features a guest appearance from Southern hip hop rapper and member from the hip hop group Migos Quavo, while the production was handled by Metro Boomin and Frank Dukes, with additional production by Louis Bell. The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Promotional singles

The album's first promotional single, called "Patient" was released on November 18, 2016. The song was produced by Louis Bell.

The album's second promotional single, called "Leave" was released on December 2, 2016. The song was produced by Rex Kudo, Cashio and Charlie Handsome.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Stoney received mixed reviews from critics. Comparing to Malone's debut single, "White Iverson", Glenn Gamboa of Newsday wrote that: "follows through with that style on “Stoney,” but it generally pales in comparison to the inventiveness and the surprise of that track." Neil Yeung of AllMusic commented that Stoney is "competent and listenable, but many others have tread this same path already. Post Malone has a way to go before standing out with his own unique voice, but there are signs on Stoney that it could happen."

Commercial performance

Stoney debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 album-equivalent units, of which 19,000 were pure album sales. The album sold an additional 30,000 units in its second week of sales. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 500,000 units on January 26, 2017, less than two months after release. On March 24th, Stoney reached 1 million albums sold globally.

Track listing

Notes