A host of pop-leaning artists such as Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey and MGK have all ventured into country music in recent years.

During his appearance on John Crist’s Net Positive Podcast, ERNEST has shed light on the creative process behind Post Malone’s star-studded, game-changing 2024 album, F-1Trillion (Long Bed), with the ‘Flower Shops’ hitmaker underlining how important it is for crossover artists to start their country journey in Music City.

ERNEST was a lynchpin for Post’s F-1Trillion sessions, with the Nashville native helping to connect the dots between a number of key collaborators, as well as penning a host of tracks from the stellar project. ERNEST also appears on ‘Devil I’ve Been’.

Post’s F-1Trillion is often held up as a shining example of how to make the shift from the mainstream music world to country music, with the ‘I Had Some Help’ singer-songwriter immersing himself in Nashville and teaming up with a host of local songsmiths.

Other crossover projects, by contrast, such as Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER and Lana Del Rey’s repeatedly delayed country record, have been criticised for the fact that much of the music has been created outside of Nashville. Beyoncé, in particular, has caught a lot of flak for seemingly rejecting the traditional route of basing the studio sessions in Music City for the recording of COWBOY CARTER.

“The way Post did it is the way I would hope any artist coming to make a country record would do it”, ERNEST underlines, “Where it’s like, come baptize yourself in the culture of Nashville and get to know the heartbeat of Nashville, the songwriters, the producers and make friends with the artists. Post would just have the most random people pulling up to those sessions, just to hear the music we’re working on”.

He expands, “I remember one night, we were sitting around, it was me, Morgan [Wallen], Luke Combs, HARDY, Post, Eddie Vedder and Jack White, sitting around a table, just listening to where we were at with the record, you know, it was like, obviously we were writing with Luke that night too…Everybody…was excited about it, you know? Versus some other attempts where it all happened elsewhere and then we’re trying to market it to this community, and there’s like a disconnection”.

ERNEST stresses that carrying this respect for Nashville’s country scene is an approach he reiterates time and again to his Cadillac Music roster, “I teach it to my guys too. Let the city have your back. Start here, it needs to happen here. Like, give them something to champion, because when you get the industry…Let it start on the inside and trickle out, and don’t try to come force-feed it to the industry”.

It’s certainly an approach that has worked for Post, with the F-1Trillion rollout feeling as though the entirety of Nashville’s industry and fanbase alike were rooting for it to succeed. It was evident throughout that Post simply loved the genre, and this enthusiasm and passion was reflected in the lasting success of the album.

We’re excited to hear whether ERNEST has been involved in the writing process for Post’s next album, which is expected to be another country effort, as well as soaking up the sun-soaked vibes of ERN’s new island-inspired solo album, Deep Blue.