mvm.

With a new year comes a new album – and a new title change*. Emo Girl is the start of something new – or consistent – in the world of punk.

With a change in title and an elusive punk-debut charting the records for Machine Gun Kelly, is this new chapter a chip off the old block or has it lost its flare?

When the once-rapper decided to drop his trap beats and mic for a pink guitar and studded boots, it shook punk and rap fans alike. When Tickets to my Downfall was released in 2020, the cathartic and energetic collective spear-headed the moment for revival punk amongst those once lost. It twisted and covened its way into the telling of punk’s future – and ultimately saved Kelly’s music career.

But with the incessant release of Emo Girl dropping earlier today, it certainly seems that the sudden wow-factor of such a pivotal moment in musicality has lost its shine. Its no mystery that punk works well in singular lines – hard, fast and straight-edged with no two ways about it. But upon first listen, this song seems well … boring. It still possess the sly tongue-and-cheek of MGK that was so portrayed so well in Tickets to my Downfall and he certainly is earning brownie points with the feature of WILLOW (another artist turning the tides to punk I may also add), but this song feels slightly forced down our throats and missed the mark for me somewhat. It may be me going into it with far greater expectations (because what more can you do with the same three punky chords?) than I should have, but hopefully Mainstream Sellout will show us new spices to MGK’s hotpot of punk.

Still, with the punk ambassador role rightly being given to Travis Barker who has since amassed such a following of artists on his own record label, the album will no doubt do equally as well as the first, boasting at the sheer size and prospect of punk making its hard-earned comeback.

For me at least, it had never gone away. All it takes it just a couple of mainstream sellouts to push it to the forefront again.

Alongide 2000’s nostalgia-trip Emo Girl, MGK’s sixth studio album Mainstream Sellout is expected to be released on March the 25th this year.

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<*Kelly and co-punk collaborator Travis Barker both embarked on a new project with style by branding themselves with Kelly’s upcoming feature-length album Born With Horns – all for him to ultimately change his mind to its new name of Mainstream Sellout.>

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