Next month, Machine Gun Kelly will release his sixth studio LP Mainstream Sellout, his second alongside Travis Barker that is expected to feature previous singles like “papercuts,” “love race” with Kellin Quinn, and “drug dealer girl,” a collaboration with iann dior that was leaked last summer. Earlier this month, MGK added to that with “emo girl,” which features Willow Smith (now going as simply WILLOW) and sees some additional production from Dark Waves. The track seems to take the typical “emo girl” stereotype and turn it on his head:
“She’s got makeup by the mirror in her bedroom, thigh-high fishnets and some black boots, nose pierced with the cigarette perfume, half dead but she still looks so cute, she is a monster in disguise, and she knows all the words to the trap songs, takes pics with a cherry-red lipstick, says she only dates guys with a big…”
“emo girl” also comes with a matching video courtesy of Drew Kirsh, which begins with a toned-down Barker leading some kids into what appears to be a museum for punk rock, with MGK and WILLOW as the main exhibits — by the end of said trip, Barker is back to his normal self and the kids are in full-on emo gothic garb. There’s also a humorous scene where a woman is throwing MGK and his things out of a house.
Originally called Born With Horns, Mainstream Sellout seems to be derived from the ongoing argument that MGK abandoned his hip hop origins for what’s become a major pivot into more alternative genres. His last album, Tickets To My Downfall, was a full-on venture into pop and punk-rock, and became both the first Billboard 200 number one and the first Platinum-certified album for the Cleveland star. As previously reported by REVOLT, MGK responded to the speculation by stating that he’s simply not holding back in regards to being his true self:
“Usually, this would be when I’m most uninterested in somebody’s artistry now because I feel like they’ve told me everything. I feel like I held back everything. I feel like I held back who I actually was… I was always bearing it all but I just hadn’t removed certain subconscious layers.”
Check out “emo girl” below.