Punk rock has officially come back in 2022 and we can attribute that to Machine Gun Kelly. He dropped his newest album Mainstream Sellout on Friday, and it continued right where he left off on his extremely successful 2020 project ‘Tickets to My Downfall’.
I was highly anticipating the album because I loved Tickets to My Downfall, and was hoping that MGK continued with the same kind of feel for the next album. I wasn’t sure how he could follow up a hit like the previous, but he did not disappoint.
The title Mainstream Sellout is a jab at the critics that MGK has faced over his career and the people that try and degrade him for venturing into uncharted territory for rappers. As if we should penalize him for being a versatile artist and finding his niche.
The album consists of 16 tracks and a variety of features from blackbear, Iann Dior, and even Lil Wayne. Each song was put together well with that signature MGK guitar. ‘god save me’ was the first track after the intro and it had some really hard hitting lyrics about him feeling isolated and his rough childhood. Other tracks like ‘fake love don’t last’ with Iann Dior and ‘make up sex’ with lil Wayne touch on more on heartbreak and love. There’s even a song in there titled ‘die in california’ with features from Gunna, Young Thug, and Landon Barker which goes back to the feeling of being alone.
The album ends with the song ‘twin flame’ which has a similar feeling to ‘play this when im gone’ from the TTMD album, in which MGK sung a soft acoustic song to his daughter. ‘Twin flame’ has the same feeling, but is really a beautiful ballad to his new fiancé Megan Fox.
Overall, I really enjoyed the album and felt it had some of the deepest and most raw lyrics in a minute. It focuses on mental health and heartbreak, yet at the same time love and finding yourself in the process. This album gives people who are struggling something to relate to, and I definitely think everyone should give it a chance.