Machine Gun Kelly certainly took his fans by surprise with his foray into the world of pop-punk in 2020, but his evolution as an artist may not stop there. In a new interview with KROQ’s Nicole Alvarez, Kelly says he just wants to “break the mold of everything I just did and piss people off all over again.”
Elaborating on that idea, he explains, “Even when I say, ‘Break the mould and piss people off all over again,’ I just mean make them think again; make them have a moment of, ‘This artist is so polarizing [that] I have to tune in.’”
By making the transition from rapping to doing a rock record, people certainly took notice and Tickets to My Downfall became one of the biggest selling rock records of 2020.
The musician continues, “I don’t want to be bored with an artist, and I think Kanye [West]’s a great example of that: we all have moments of sitting at dinner tables talking about Kanye and being like, ‘I didn’t like this!’ or, ‘I loved this!’ or, ‘Why is he doing that?!’ But I’ll tell you what, man. We’re still talking about him and we know that there’s greatness in there behind it.”
He cites another artist with the kind of career path he’d like to follow. “When Prince passed, seeing that everything even in the ’80s when maybe people were like, ‘This doesn’t make any sense…’ seeing how it made so much sense in the years leading up to his death and the years after, that’s a legacy worth fighting for,” says Kelly. “It’s not gonna be easy, and I’m aware of that. I’m happy to keep breaking the mold.”
Kelly has taken great strides over the past year to make the most of his career path. Following the release of Tickets to My Downfall, he created a Downfalls High movie musical based upon the ideals in the music from the record. He’s also continuing to take roles in the movie world under his given name Colson Baker, most recently signing on for a starring role in the movie One Way. He’s also co-writing a graphic novel based around his 2019 album Hotel Diablo.
Machine Gun Kelly Speaks With KROQ’s Nicole Alvarez
