Written by Madison Boyce
On Friday, September 25th, Cleveland artist Machine Gun Kelly dropped his newest record titled, "Tickets To My Downfall." This is a fifteen-track release that has features from four different artists; Halsey, Trippie Redd, Blackbear, and Iann Dior. In addition to those four features, throughout this entire record cycle so far MGK has made it clear that “Tickets To My Downfall” is a collaboration between him and Travis Barker of Blink-182.
The album opens with the title track, including the lyric “I sold some tickets to come see my downfall / It sold out in minutes / I saw friends in the front row.” There's a theme throughout the song of being betrayed by friends and the people you feel closest to.
The lyric “I’m selling tickets to my downfall” can also be spotted on MGK's guitar on the album cover. The next track is titled “Kiss Kiss", with the lyric “Kiss kiss the bottle all night” repeated a bunch throughout the song. This definitely draws listeners in because of how catchy and memorable it is.
From the beginning of “Drunk Face,” you're automatically hit with the "driving around with the windows down" vibes. Another part I found really interesting about this song is that the line “I’m a Hollywood Whore, I don't ask names” can be referenced back to his previous record, “Hotel Diablo”.
After that is the first single released for the record, "Bloody Valentine." In the music video is actress and Model Megan Fox who is also MGK’s girlfriend.
Up next is "Forget Me Too", featuring New Jersey artist Halsey. This is a collaboration I never thought would happen, but I am most certainly not mad at it. Travis’ incredible drums and Halsey's powerful vocals on top of MGK’s deeper vocals truly make for a perfect song.
“All I Know” has a feature with someone Machine Gun Kelly has shown a lot of love to in the past, Trippie Redd. They collaborated together already on a track called “Candy” on “Hotel Diablo”, and though I prefer their first collaboration, I strongly believe that this track is the perfect addition to this record.
The next track, “Lonely”, contributes to the overall darker feelings on this record, including loss, loneliness, and even death. On “WWIII”, initially what stood out on my first listen was Barker's drumming. His tenure as a pop-punk drummer truly adds so much to this pop-punk-leaning record.
“Kevin & Barracuda Interlude” is Machine Gun Kelly talking with one of his best friends, comedian Pete Davison. On MGK's last record, which I mentioned quite a few times already, Davidson also has an interlude called “A Message from the Count”.
The end of the track fades out with alien noises and leads into the next track, titled “Concert for Aliens”. The next track has a feature from Blackbear and was the third single dropped for this record. “My Ex’s Best Friend” is one of my favorite tracks off of “Tickets To My Downfall” by far and I hope to see more collabs from MGK and Blackbear in the future.
Track twelve, titled “Jawbreaker”, was definitely my most anticipated song from this album. When MGK announced that he was on the newest cover of Kerrang! Magazine, this song was playing in the background and had my attention immediately. It's only one minute and fifty-eight seconds long, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the strongest songs on the album, let alone in his entire discography.
“Nothing Inside” features Iann Dior, someone who I could see joining MGK touring with in the future for sure. Their vocals blending together in one song is one of the best things I have heard in a while.
Up next is “Banyan Tree Interlude”, where MGK refers back to his previous record once again with the line “I burn all the memories just to make new ones”. This parallels the lyric “I took acid just to burn all of my memories of you” from “Burning Memories” featuring Lil Skies.
“Play This When I’m Gone” is the best possible way he could have ended this record off. This song was written for his daughter, should he lose his battle with mental illness and sobriety. The repetition of “I’ll miss you” at the end of the song transitions well to close out this thirty-seven-minute journey.
I didn’t really know what to think when Machine Gun Kelly said he was taking a more “pop-punk” route with his new music, so the fact that he constantly draws back to his previous record is incredible. Back when I was listening to “General Admission” in 2015 I would have never thought that this would be what we’d be getting from MGK, but experiencing this record in full takes you through a story and it truly shows the progression of his work. I highly suggest you check out this record even if you aren’t a fan or have never listened to Machine Gun Kelly!
"Tickets to my Downfall" by Machine Gun Kelly is available to stream wherever you listen to music, and you can support him by picking up some of the album cycle's merch, including shirts, hoodies, keychains, stickers, and more, all available on his website. You can follow MGK on Twitter @MachineGunKelly and tweet us what you think of his new record at @lgndsoftmrw!