mainstream sellout

MGK

Released on 25/03/2022 by Bad Boy - Interscope Records
Main artists: Machine Gun Kelly
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Machine Gun Kelly's transition from rapper with pop sensibilities to pop-punk revivalist that began in earnest on his 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall continues enthusiastically with sixth album Mainstream Sellout. Made once again with blink-182's Travis Barker acting as producer and drummer, Mainstream Sellout goes even further than the last album in reshaping Kelly's sound as a 2020s approximation of the kind of melodic but anguished punk Barker and his peers were making in the start of the aughts. This is most apparent in songs made up of big, distorted guitars, simplistic but catchy hooks, and Barker's tight, snappy drumming. Willow duet "Emo Girl," the frantic and harmony-heavy "Born with Horns," and "Drug Dealer" (one of two tracks here featuring guest performances from Lil Wayne) all model themselves after the kind of 2000s pop-punk that was exciting enough to evoke a sense of rebellion and angst, but not too aggressive for radio airplay. Kelly doesn't erase all traces of his commercial rap past, however, and tracks like the blackbear-featuring "Make Up Sex" and "Die in California" -- an album standout with contributions from Gunna and Young Thug -- incorporate either trappy drum programming, fluid rap flows, or other familiar elements of rap production. Where Kelly's rebirth as a troubled, guitar-slinging punk was novel and backed by a fair number of serviceable tunes on Tickets to My Downfall, this shtick wears thin quickly on Mainstream Sellout. Unimaginative, by-the-numbers emo/pop-punk tropes show up to the point where songs blur together or feel assembled at random more than written. In addition to these uninspired moments, multiple tracks are confusing experiments that don't work, and don't fit with the rest of the album. The hardcore-paced, 72-second-long "WW4" feels awkward and unnecessary, and the watery emo-trap track "Ay!" doesn't commit fully enough to any of its stylistic directions, giving Lil Wayne little to work with as he turns in a distracted, Auto-Tune-doused verse. While Tickets to My Downfall came across like an established star taking risks with his sound in the name of self-discovery, Mainstream Sellout feels mostly like a middling attempt to further cross over into pop-punk, this time lighter on ideas and cohesion.

© Fred Thomas /TiVo

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mainstream sellout

Machine Gun Kelly

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born with horns

00:02:27

Chris Gehringer, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Adam Hawkins, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Nick Long, Producer, Co-Producer, ComposerLyricist - Travis Barker, Producer, ComposerLyricist - MGK, MainArtist - Colson Baker, ComposerLyricist - Hunter Smith, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Henry Lunetta, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel