Yungblud: ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Coming Back Quickly’ With Machine Gun Kelly’s Help
This year has given us a new rock star from the most unlikeliest of places – the rap world. Machine Gun Kelly made the transition from rap to pop-punk with his Tickets to My Downfall album, which became his first chart-topping album and one of 2020's biggest rock releases. Frequent MGK collaborator Yungblud recently shared his thoughts on Kelly's breakout success in the rock world and why it's important for rock's placement moving forward.
The singer, who just released his MGK-featuring track "acting like that" from his new Weird! album, told Billboard of Kelly's success, "It’s fucking brilliant! To see my mate, we feel like we’re part of a scene again. Rock 'n' roll is coming back very quickly, because it’s a scene. It’s not just one twat with a God complex and a leather jacket eating too much guacamole going 'I saved rock music.' Rock 'n' roll is about freedom and expression and defiance to conform. And you can only do that in a group. Seeing my best bud and my best mate score a No. 1 album in his country was just magic. I couldn’t be more proud to know him and I couldn’t be more proud to kind of be with him on that journey."
Yungblud not only has MGK on his new song, he also appeared on one of Machine Gun Kelly's first rock crossover hits "I Think I'm OKAY" that also featured Travis Barker. He added, "Ever since we wrote 'I Think I’m OKAY,' we saw this place to go, and we saw this community. No one’s looking over their shoulder going 'Oh, they beat me!' That’s what was wrong with rock 'n' roll — everybody was fucking thinking that they had to be the messiah, whereas now it’s just like, celebrate your mates, uplift them and be a part of something that’s gonna help a load of fucking people, and help you at the same time."
Earlier this year, Kelly likened himself and Yungblud to a modern day Elton John and Jimi Hendrix, with Kelly explaining, "It feels like a dope, across-the-pond thing, like: ‘You hold it down over there and I’ll hold it down over here.’ Together we can make some sort of union of rock stars. We’re like Elton John and Jimi Hendrix back in the day."
It was indeed a big year for Machine Gun Kelly, as revealed on Billboard's recent year-end rock charts. Kelly placed second on the Top Rock Artists chart for the year and had the highest charting 2020 release from any rock artist on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Tickets to My Downfall.
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