Machine Gun Kelly’s New Album Majorly Misfires
By Tyler Lilly
By Tyler Lilly
I have never been a big fan of Colson Baker, better known by his stage name Machine Gun Kelly, with my favorite thing by him probably being the diss track Eminem wrote about him. When I heard in 2020 that MGK was pivoting from rap to pop punk, one of my favorite genres, my interest peaked. “Tickets to My Downfall’’ was fine. Not great, but not horrible. So when I heard that the so-called “Prince of Pop Punk” Machine Gun Kelly was releasing another album “mainstream sellout,’’ I gave it a listen. The short of this is that this album is not good.
First, the few things I did like about this album; I did not mind the last song, “twin flame,” the second part of it being pretty good. I didn’t mind the song “WW4’’ either, a shorter heavier song that shows potential if it was expanded. I also thought the instrumentals on the album are fine; they do a lot to make this album not completely unbearable. The drummer, Travis Barker of Blink 182 fame, does a good job on this record, but his stellar drumming does not do enough to save this album.
As for the things I did not like about the album. The lyrics feel uninspired and lifeless. They seem to mostly boil down to Baker complaining about his life or talking about how cool he is. This album also romanticizes addiction and depression. These concepts are presented as a cool quirk that makes you more interested which I find distasteful.
Another issue I had with the album was Baker’s vocals. His voice is not great to begin with, but it seems to have been pitch shifted and changed to sound even more whiny and irritating. Even the features don’t work on this album. Any track with a feature is not improved by their addition and in a few songs the features actively hold them back
Student response has been mostly negative as well. When asked about his thoughts, Tommy Jordan, 11, felt that the album was terrible.
“I wish that the time I spent listening to that album I could have back; it was wasted time because it was so garbage,” said Jordan.
Though this album was a major failure to me I can see small specks of genius in Baker’s mostly bland discography. A perfect example of this being “love race,” a fun lighter single he put out between albums that I actually consider a good song. I will still follow MGK’s continued music output with great interest hoping he can take advantage of the potential and actually put out a completely solid album.
First, the few things I did like about this album; I did not mind the last song, “twin flame,” the second part of it being pretty good. I didn’t mind the song “WW4’’ either, a shorter heavier song that shows potential if it was expanded. I also thought the instrumentals on the album are fine; they do a lot to make this album not completely unbearable. The drummer, Travis Barker of Blink 182 fame, does a good job on this record, but his stellar drumming does not do enough to save this album.
As for the things I did not like about the album. The lyrics feel uninspired and lifeless. They seem to mostly boil down to Baker complaining about his life or talking about how cool he is. This album also romanticizes addiction and depression. These concepts are presented as a cool quirk that makes you more interested which I find distasteful.
Another issue I had with the album was Baker’s vocals. His voice is not great to begin with, but it seems to have been pitch shifted and changed to sound even more whiny and irritating. Even the features don’t work on this album. Any track with a feature is not improved by their addition and in a few songs the features actively hold them back
Student response has been mostly negative as well. When asked about his thoughts, Tommy Jordan, 11, felt that the album was terrible.
“I wish that the time I spent listening to that album I could have back; it was wasted time because it was so garbage,” said Jordan.
Though this album was a major failure to me I can see small specks of genius in Baker’s mostly bland discography. A perfect example of this being “love race,” a fun lighter single he put out between albums that I actually consider a good song. I will still follow MGK’s continued music output with great interest hoping he can take advantage of the potential and actually put out a completely solid album.