“Something Real” is Post Malone searching for something real at any cost. Coming in as the second single from Malone’s recently released album Austin, the song explores a kind of obsessive longing for something. It especially fits in with the message of the album since the overall record, in one way or another, conveyed the message of mental health and longing for a better living situation. The album is also a journey of self-discovery, as listeners go from Malone questioning whether there’s anything good about him to laugh it all off on his last track. Already, the album is being praised as Malone’s most vulnerable and personal record to date, and “Something Real” is a perfect example of why Austin deserved that praise.
“Something Real” gives us a taste of Post Malone’s voice like we’ve never seen before, backed by a choir that helped to convey the song’s emotional message. “Give me somethin’ I can feel / Light a cigarette just so I can breathe / Give me somethin’, somethin’ real (Yeah) / Seven hundred feet off the coast of Greece,” he sings in the chorus of his need to live freely without cares. He then goes on to say that his money hasn’t bought him the peace he’s craving, as he sings that “no matter what car is sittin’ outside, it’s a lonely road.” The fame may come with its wealth and well, fame, but it’s driven a distance between him and the ones he loves.
“It’s just money at the gates of hell, no VIP / Everybody waits in line,” he sings in the track penned by him, Louis Bell, watt, and Billy Walsh.
The last chorus sees him adding a touch of pain in the middle of every line in a gospel-like way, as if he’s confessing his sins. “Give me somethin’ I can feel (Yeah) / Whiskey lullaby just to fall asleep / Give me somethin’, somethin’ real (Yeah) / And it’s what I want, it ain’t what I need.” He sings about his escape to drugs just so he can feel alright and the fact that opulence isn’t saving him. It’s also a kind of wake-up call that peace doesn’t necessarily rest with the amount of money we have, so might as well stop and smell the roses while we can.
This is the first album that Malone has released without having even one collaborator on it since his debut in 2016. It departs from the pop, hip-hop, and R&B of his last albums Hollywood’s Bleeding, and Twelve Carat Toothache, for a more breezy sound that has been compared to Harry Styles’.
