My past with Post Malone is well-documented. I wrote a piece in the fall detailing how Post Malone was simply yet another in a line of passing musical fads. This got back to Post, who had some unkind words for the Press on his Twitter page. Shortly after, the Press’s paper version folded and the publication went online-only, and while Post Malone didn’t directly have anything to do with this (at least, we think), we pay homage to the man via our Twitter page’s tagline.

Point being, eight months after criticizing the erstwhile Austin Post, his musical moniker is still going strong. Post’s latest, Beerbongs & Bentleys, debuted at No. 1 in the pretty much every country in which it was made available. He’s on one hell of a run with regard to hit singles. Dude has more than three million Twitter followers. Tickets for his tour stop on Friday night at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, alongside 21 Savage, are starting at $129 and will still sell out.

So, yeah, I was a bit hard on Post Malone the artist. And while I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a fan these days, I’m no longer a Post detractor.

Now, my initial reservations regarding Post Malone had nothing to do with Austin Post the man. If anything, Post ranks among the most accessible artists in the game today. He routinely interacts with fans – both in-person and online – and is forthcoming with information regarding his life, both personally and professionally.

If anything, Post Malone is an American success story. The 22-year-old Dallas native rose to fame with the release of “White Iverson” in 2015, a song Post posted to his SoundCloud page. Once it eclipsed one million views, record labels came calling and he eventually signed with Republic Records. He soon hit the road with Justin Bieber and the rise to fame was on. Three years later, Post Malone has released a pair of Platinum-selling records and logged four top-10 Billboard singles.

In short, dude started from little, busted his ass, made a few connections, caught a few breaks, and before he could legally drink, was damn near a household name.

“It has been wild, you know,” Post told Forbes last year. “I started out just putting a song that I made out on the internet without being sure if anyone was going to like it and it took me on tour around the world with Justin Bieber, it's been amazing!”

And therein lies the greater appeal of one Post Malone. It takes a certain kind of artist to open for Justin Bieber but still maintain hip-hop credibility, and it takes a certain kind of chameleon to navigate the modern-day musical waters. After all, in addition to supporting Bieber and touring alongside 21 Savage, Post has worked with everyone from Nicki Minaj to Lorde to Tiesto to Tommy Lee to Migos.

This is not an artist who fits into any one musical box, nor is Post Malone an artist who aspires to a particular genre.

“It should just be music, you know?,” he told GQ earlier this year, and this certainly makes sense with regard to Post’s musical output over the past few years.

To call Post Malone a hip-hop artist or a rapper wouldn’t be entirely accurate, in that he does very little rapping at all. Rather, Post’s approach borrows from any number of genres – hip-hop, country, even folk music – and his delivery (a sort of slow drawl) is unique enough to stand out in a crowded pop marketplace.

Is the sound somewhat repetitive? Without question. Is the music really even all that good? Guess that depends on your individual perspective and tastes. Is it built to last? Hard to tell, though audiences evolve and sounds that were once new and fresh often get stale and left behind.

Either way, Post Malone isn’t just some passing fad. The loyalty of his robust audience essentially prevents it. One can’t really tell whether Post Malone will still be headlining arenas and amphitheaters a decade from now, when his young audience isn’t really so young anymore. But one thing is for certain – as it pertains to the state of present-day pop music, Post Malone is the very embodiment of a rock star.

Post Malone and 21 Savage are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, June 15 at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, 2005 Lake Robbins. For information, call 281-364-3010 or visit woodlandscenter.org. $129-$154, plus fees.