Post Malone’s Tour Support Selection Strategy: Genre-Blending Opening Acts

Post Malone has never followed the traditional music playbook. His tattoos, beats, and chart-topping hooks may grab listeners' attention instantly, but beneath the layers, there's a strong strategy. It's about who opens his shows.

Across his major tours, Posty has consistently chosen opening acts that stretch genre lines and subvert expectations. What's best is these acts resonate with his own sound in clever patterns. Rather than looking for warmup artists, he curates a musical arc that eases fans into a night where hip-hop fuses with rock, pop leans on punk, and trap blends into country. 

Let's see how Post Malone's genre-blending opening act choices reveal his skilled showmanship and planning.

In 2018, Post Malone launched his first major solo tour off the success of Beerbongs & Bentleys. The album itself was an exercise in merging styles. “Rockstar” leaned into trap, “Stray” was an acoustic heartbreak ballad, and ”Better Now” hit that sweet spot between pop and rap.

He brought in rapper 21 Savage and hip-hop group SOB X RBE as openers. To some, this looked like a purely hip-hop decision. In fact, 21 Savage was fresh off his collaboration album with Metro Boomin, and SOB X RBE had gained regional attention after featuring on the Black Panther soundtrack.

Diehard fans perhaps wondered how many noticed that SOB X RBE had a Bay Area sound full of bounce and aggression, while 21 Savage brought in a minimalistic, icy energy. Together, they covered two very different tones within hip-hop. By the time Post Malone stomped onto the stage, the crowd was already moving between sonic moods. 

For the Runaway tour in 2019, Malone teamed up with Swae Lee and Tyla Yaweh, both rappers and singers. Swae Lee, as half of Rae Sremmurd, had already proven his melodic genius on “Sunflower,” his No. 1 hit with Malone from 2018. Their chemistry was undeniable, and fans still appreciated seeing that track performed live. But Swae's solo set also brought in tropical vibes with high-pitched hooks and a softness that balanced the heavier parts of the show. 

His partner, Tyla Yaweh, was a younger artist signed to Malone's label and publicly empowered as well. His set blended punk, rap, and alternative rock in a style mirroring Post Malone's experimentation. Despite performing in front of fans who didn't know him well, his raw energy and genre-skipping tracks introduced audiences to what the future of Malone's sound may look like.

The lineup avoided legacy names or chart juggernauts. Rather, the idea was to build a certain mood while giving the crowd a multigenre warmup.

Post hit the road again for the Twelve Carat Tour in 2012, where Roddy Ricch was his main opener. This artist broke out with “The Box,” a track that leveled slick lyricism with catchy production. His flow leaned West Coast, but his musical sensibilities were sonically broaderdue to the way he could rap over variations from piano-led beats to thumping 808s.

Pairing Roddy with Post Malone went beyond a financial move. Roddy had the hits, but his swift shifts from bangers to ballads meant he could walk the fine line Malone often danced on. Above all, his emotional delivery on tracks such as “High Fashion” and “Die Young” created a reflective tone that matched Malone's moodier Twelve Carat Toothache era.

What makes Post Malone's opening act strategy so different is that he curated experiences rather than booking based on algorithms. Some artists seek local openers or radio-heavy support to pull in extra ticket buyers, while others pick friends from their label roster. Post Malone, however, chooses acts that either extract a side of his own musical identity or introduce audiences to new sounds that still feel familiar.

Take Tyla Yaweh — he wasn't a household name, but his ability to move between screaming hooks and rapped verses helped audiences understand Malone's shift into more rock-driven sounds. Similarly, bringing out Swae Lee reminded everyone that pop-rap can be artful and clean, not just generically catchy.

Post Malone has benefited throughout his career by being impossible to pin down. Fans of trap, emo, indie, and arena pop can all find something they enjoy in his catalog.

Rather than simply picking artists, Post Malone has helped build reputations. For example, Tyla Yaweh was signed to Post Malone's label imprint, and supporting him on tour was part of a long-term plan to push his sound forward. This strategy underscores what other genre-fluid stars, such as Travis Scott or Kanye West, have done, but Post's choices barge past label politics. His tours featured artists who might otherwise not share a stage with a superstar that melded pop and hip-hop. Simply put, it brought underground or fringe styles to large arenas. It also helped push the industry's view of what an opening act could do. And for fans, this turned the early part of the night into a discovery zone.

If you've ever attended a Post Malone show, the first thing you'd likely notice was how little dead time exists between acts. Transitions were smooth, and the energy didn't drop. That was by design.

Malone has said in interviews that he wants fans to feel like they're part of a whole night, not just a headliner moment. His setlist pacing and visuals, along with support acts, are always chosen to deliver a unified mood.

That's another reason genre-blending matters. If you jumped from hardcore rap to soft ballads with no bridge, you'd lose the audience. But if you let artists such as Swae Lee or Roddy Ricch build out the in-between moments, the energy never falls flat.

Post Malone's tour strategy teaches us how live music is transitioning again. Instead of cranking up ticket sales, he's presenting a much bigger picture. It's similar to a well-scored film. 

If you look closely, you'll see a pattern in how Post Malone has chosen his tour partners over the years: genre-blenders and melodic experimenters, all mindfully chosen to display the many sides of the Post Malone soundscape.