This is a gorgeous rock ballad about a volatile, probably toxic relationship, built on lush major 7th chords that, in the tradition of so much great rock music, appear to be at odds with the subject matter. It features over-earnest singing, one well-placed cuss word and an understated 12-bar slide guitar solo. It’s from 2018 and it's by POST MALONE. I saved the name for last, to increase the chances you would click on it. I'm not prepared to love 2018's most reviled pop star as much as PITCHFORK's JAYSON GREENE suggests he does in this beautifully written, musically astute plea for reconsideration. I'm ready to like him, though, not unlike the way I liked KID ROCK, another white rapper with country-rock ambitions, before he became a gaslighting political troll. Post Malone is a much better singer. There's plenty more to love on his second album, BEERBONGS & BENTLEYS, not least the current single, "BETTER NOW," which glides in on a four-chord new-wavey teenage dream keyboard loop, but in a minor key, and proceeds to detail the ways the singer is not even remotely over his most recent breakup. Post Malone has been on my mind since I read this tweet last week quoting an unnamed "v senior" music exec lamenting the sorry state of pop music. There have been v senior execs saying this every day since the dawn of time, and 20 years from now a v senior exec who grew up loving Post Malone will utter the same sentence to somebody who grew up loving IMAGINE DRAGONS and they will nod their heads in agreement and share a moment of sad silence together. Whatever will prompt them to have that conversation, that's what I most look forward to hearing come 2038. Meanwhile, the next time you find yourself worrying that today's pop stars are lacking in realness or chops or whatever it is that may be bothering you, treat yourself to a video of Post Malone shopping for guitars, or maybe one of him fingerpicking "DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT"... Speaking of IMAGINE DRAGONS, is it time to reconsider them, too? UPROXX's PHILIP COSORES' makes a somewhat backhanded case here... After months of speculation, our friend TROY CARTER says he will leave SPOTIFY in September... Spotify users may leave even sooner if the service continues to host a podcast by ALEX JONES... VIVENDI says it will sell up to half its stake in UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP but will not spin off the division... SKY FERREIRA got her SOUNDCLOUD account back and this is so on-the-nose it's perfect... RIP TERRY BASSETT and SAM MEHRAN.