Post Malone Releases His First Justin Bieber Duet, Which Totally Isn't "Hotline Bling"

What's that saying about how if it ain't broke? After months of carousing, touring and burning cigarettes on each other (a regular pastime of theirs, apparently), Post Malone and Justin Bieber finally, officially released their first collaboration together, "Déjà Vu." But the title may be a little more literal than it ought to be.

The song is the first single that Malone has released since "Flex" came out last April, with the once-mooted release date for his debut full-length, Stoney, having come and gone on August 26. The only thing is: it sounds a hell of a lot like "Hotline Bling." 
"Déjà Vu" starts off with a ghoulish-sounding organ fill, but once Malone kicks in on the first verse it's straight "Bling," right down to the drum machine fills. Pretty well every outlet that's written about the new track since it dropped Friday has made a point of noting its similarity with Drake's mega hit from 2015, but that wouldn't appear to bother Malone, who hasn't acknowledged the similarity.

And why should he? (Unless, of course, Drake and his lawyers do, but we'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it.) The idea that "this is nothing new" permeates "Déjà Vu" (Bieber even says so), which is kind of the point: It's the sound of two buddies having fun in the recording studio. Bieber admittedly steals the show here, but it works because his buttered-up verse is contrasted nicely with Malone's auto-tuned, get-down-to-business delivery (complete with, you guessed it, a Texas shout out).

All in all, "Déjà Vu" makes for a catchy track, and as a holdover for Stoney it's solid. But it may be hard to fully appreciate the song until the album drops — or at least until Malone comes to town next week for one of his first stops of his Monster Energy Outbreak Tour, where he may or may not give a peak at some of his other new material. Of course, where have we have that one before?

POST MALONE performs on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at House of Blues.