Publish Malone closed out the primary weekend of this yr’s Coachella competition on Sunday night time with a 90-minute efficiency wherein he remade a few of his smash pop-rap hits as down-home nation jams.
Sauntering onstage holding a crimson plastic cup and a cigarette, the 29-year-old singer — who went Nashville in 2024 with the chart-topping “F-1 Trillion” after years of dominating pop and hip-hop radio — opened his set with twangy renditions of “Texas Tea,” “Wow” and “Better Now” that felt like they may’ve been carried out at Coachella’s nation cousin, Stagecoach (the place actually Malone launched his nation part final yr).
“I apologize for being pitchy,” he stated later within the present. “Auto-Tune is a hell of a drug.”
Wearing tight denims and a weathered ball cap, Malone put throughout his normal self-effacing vibe as he ran by oldies like “Go Flex,” “Goodbyes,” “Lemon Tree” and “Psycho,” the final of which had him yowling on his knees. He additionally did solo variations of a number of the nation songs from “F-1 Trillion,” together with “I Had Some Help” (which options Morgan Wallen on file), “Losers” (which options Jelly Roll on file) and “M-E-X-I-C-O” (which options Billy Strings on file).
Regardless of his many associates in Nashville, Malone didn’t deliver out any shock company on Friday — a choice in preserving this yr along with his fellow headliners Woman Gaga, who introduced solely her producer Gesaffelstein, and Inexperienced Day, whose set featured no company.
Earlier than leaping into the group to shake followers’ fingers as he completed his set with “Sunflower,” Malone gave a little bit motivational speech to introduce his track “Congratulations,” telling the viewers that he remembered when a “lot of motherf—” have been calling him a one-hit surprise.
However simply take a look at him now, he gave the impression to be arguing: a rapper who’d made himself into a rustic star at pop’s most essential music competition.
