If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been the biggest Machine Gun Kelly fan. I just couldn’t really get into his music for one reason or another, so although I didn’t dislike him, I just never paid much attention. When I saw his feature on Iann Dior’s song “Sick and Tired” alongside Travis Barker, I have to admit that my ear perked up a bit and I was introduced to a new style of his that I was previously unaware of. Considering I’m a massive Iann Dior fan and love the style of music he makes, when I heard MGK on that track showing off some Punk-inspired lyrics, my mind was blown. He’s clearly got the Punk aesthetic down to a science, and his voice just coupled with the genre seamlessly, so when I found out his latest album was along the same lines as this, I knew it was something I had to listen to.
Although I haven’t had a chance to check out Tickets to my Downfall in its entirety quite yet, I’ve heard a few singles and have had nothing but positive things to say about it. Going off of that, everyone I’ve talked to about the album has said nothing but great things about it, so it’s a project I’m simply going to have to buckle down and listen to as soon as possible. I mean, aside from his new skills being shown off in full, Travis Barker produced the album and it boasts features from Trippie Redd, Iann Dior, Halsey, and Blackbear, and there’s a deluxe version providing six additional songs to the original album, but the fun doesn’t simply end there.
In addition to the original and deluxe versions of the album, MGK decided to drop of a wild new music video for one of the standout records off of the project called “Drunk Face”. We are introduced to the visual with a message stating that all of the following events took place on the day that the album came out, and I’m not sure how he didn’t fall asleep standing up after seeing all of the things he did in that one singular day. Colorful backdrops combine with certain lo-fi clips of the rapper in different settings, one of which shows him hanging out the window of a car he’s driving, letting his hair blowing in the wind as he recites his lyrics.
Constant cameos of the rapper’s famous girlfriend Megan Fox are shown throughout, some of them inside a car while others show them hopping on and getting off of a private plane. As he gets his nails painted and dances around in certain shots, other recordings show the paparazzi going so crazy that he struggles to close the door on his sprinter van. Despite the fact that MGK is 30 years old, which can be considered old in the current young climate of music, he shows off that he hasn’t lost his youthfulness even slightly throughout this visual, showing just how much fun he is having with his music and living a luxurious life surrounded by friends and family he clearly loves immensely.
While I absolutely can’t wait to finally check out this entire album, I have to admit that I’m extremely impressed with what I’ve seen and heard so far, and that’s kind of shocking to me, to be honest. I feel like when you’re a veteran in music such as MGK, you tend to stick to more normalcy as to please your day one fans at times, but he flipped his sonic style on its head and went in a completely different direction. While this might be risky for some, it’s clear that this was the right move and with the album sales and chart-topping projections he’s receiving, I’m sure he’s never going to look back. Although I can’t speak for myself quite yet prior to listening to Tickets to my Downfall first-hand, I can say with the utmost confidence that I’ve heard nothing but great things, so I can say fairly assure that you need to tune into that if you haven’t already. Either way, you at least need to check out MGK’s chaotic new music video for a cut off the album entitled “Drunk Face” as soon as you get a chance.