Post Malone’s ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ Contains a Subtle Clue About His Future in Country Music

With another set of Big Ass Stadium tour-dates cancelled, this time in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, it seems that Post Malone is hunkering down in the studio as he finishes up his eagerly awaited new album, The Eternal Buzz. And with ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ seemingly a shoo-in for the lead single, the hazy, trap-leaning earworm has left us with one pressing question - is Post departing country music?

It's been almost exactly two years since Post dropped his first country album, F-1Trillion, with the ‘Chemical’ hitmaker drawing plaudits for well and truly immersing himself in Nashville culture, performing at the Ryman, Grand Ole Opry and Bluebird Café, and working with a host of Music City lynchpins like ERNEST, HARDY and more.

Now, though, two years on, is Post preparing to leave his cowboy hat in the rearview mirror and return to the Auto-Tune-drenched, 808-fuelled rap sound of his earlier material?

The re-release of his debut mixtape, August 16th - in tandem with the teasing of ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ - has left many fans with no doubt that Post's 2016 Stoney aesthetic is back.

But there is a key detail about ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ - a subtle one, admittedly - that has this writer convinced that his next chapter of music will still be grounded in country music. Despite the Stoney sonics of ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’, a quick scan on ASCAP shows that the song was written with three country songwriters.

Alongside Post and his two longstanding collaborators, Louis Bell and Charlie Handsome, the writing credits for ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ feature Rocky Block, Jamie McLaughlin and Goeffrey Warburton. Block and Warburton wrote their first songs with Post in 2024 as part of F-1Trillion, while McLaughlin - who has penned tracks for Morgan Wallen, ERNEST and Wyatt Flores - has never written with Post before.

Now, McLaughlin has some cuts with other non-country artists, such as Rod Wave and Brent Faiyaz, while Block has credits on songs by Niall Horan, Teddy Swims and more. Similarly, Warburton has penned an array of high-profile hits for Shawn Mendes.

But despite their versatility, there's no question that these three are a part of Nashville's country music core, with Warburton, for instance, writing a multitude of country earworms that have risen up the charts in recent years, from Tyler Hubbard's ‘Back Then, Right Now’ to Luke Bryan's ‘But I Got a Beer in My Hand’.

Rocky Block is arguably the most prominent country songwriter in this mix, with the Big Loud signee a regular contributor to major country releases by Wallen, Thomas Rhett, Jelly Roll, ERNEST, Cole Swindell, Dan + Shay, Cody Johnson and more.

This all adds weight to our suspicion that The Eternal Buzz will not be a complete departure from country music. We imagine there will indeed be some old-school trap songs on there, too, and we expect the project to be divided evenly between the two aesthetics. When Post first teased the tracklist, there were 20 songs on each disc, heavily implying that one side will be trap, and the other country.

What's more, Post outlined back in April to Billboard that - at that point in the year - that he had already made two trips to Nashville to work on music for the forthcoming album. In that same interview, he reveals he's been writing with Thomas Rhett and ERNEST, while neo-traditional flag-bearer Jake Worthington also confirmed he'd been writing with Post during a May 2026 conversation with Troy Cartwright.

Elsewhere on ASCAP, you can find a number of unreleased Post songs registered, including ‘Hell or Hell Tonight’, co-written with Luke Combs, ‘Hate Me Too’, co-written with HARDY, ‘Red River Wind’, co-written with Vince Gill, and numerous other tracks.

What's particularly interesting about ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ is that it's a trap-driven song that has been co-written with ‘country’ songwriters. This suggests that, while the country half of The Eternal Buzz will inevitably feature Nashville songsmiths, it seems the rap half will see Post working with an overlapping group of collaborators.

Even in the initial teaser for ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’, you see Post nodding along to the track as he dons his now-signature cowboy hat, before moving the camera to show a pair of freshly starched blue jeans. Similarly, when Post then performed a snippet of the song at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony, he was dressed head-to-toe in denim and his cowboy hat was planted firmly on his head. Post launched a new designer Western brand, Austin Post Apparel, in 2025, with AP still finding its footing in the fashion space, it would undoubtedly be a major setback if their founder was to step away from country music.

Putting the August 16th mixtape re-release to one side, all the branding, marketing and messaging around The Eternal Buzz has been unmistakably country-focussed.

While Post's promise earlier in the year that he hadn't forgotten about Stoney was a clear signal of intent that he would be embracing trap again, it's equally as evident that he is far too immersed in country music culture to pivot back to rap altogether.

Post has always been a mercurial, unpredictable figure artistically, and it's part of why he has cemented himself as one of the most popular artists of the 21st century. As a result, it's just as naive to assume that his next album will be 100% trap, as it is to expect him to only release country music after his foray into the genre in 2024.

There's no word on a release date for ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ just yet, but with Post's calendar now freeing up thanks to his latest tour-postponement, the song's arrival inches closer.

And just as his F-1Trillion rollout was meticulously curated and planned-out to ensure he'd win over the hearts of the notoriously skeptical country music fanbase, we're sure his strategy for The Eternal Buzz will be another marketing masterclass. With this in mind, we wouldn't be surprised if Post follows up the release of ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’ with a more traditional country single, just to emphasise to both sides of his listenership that there will be something for everyone on his next album.

For the full lyrics so far to Post Malone's ‘Chrome Heartbreaker’, see below:

“Ay
Yeah, I'm hoppin' out the Cully, Hush Puppy on me (Grr)
Paparazzi flockin' with the magazine pokin'
All my money clean, not a damn stain on me (Ooh)
I would pop a bean, 2016 Stoney
I know them Lucchese gon' stomp to this
All them bad punk b****** gon' rock to this
All my gang affiliated gon' walk to this
Even all my ex-shawties gon' bop to this
-
And if I'm underrated, overpaid, that's fine (That's fine, that's fine)
Better than overrated, underpaid, that's why (That's why, that's why)
-
I'm breakin' bands up, I'm Yoko Ono
She want that Benz truck, she want that Coco
And now she lookin' up at me like I'ma save her (Save her)
She don't know that I'm a Chrome heartbreaker (Heartbreaker)
I got that Black Pearl up in the solo
Already know that I look better than the photos
And she gon' fall in love with me and I don't blame her
But she don't know that I'm a Chrome heartbreaker (Breaker)”