Mainstream Sellout
| Machine Gun Kelly
Mainstream Sellout
Mainstream Sellout is the sixth studio album by American musician Machine Gun Kelly, released on March 25, 2022, through Bad Boy Records and Interscope Records. It is his second collaborative project with drummer and producer Travis Barker, following 2020's Tickets to My Downfall. The album was initially announced in August 2021 under the title Born with Horns, before being renamed in January 2022. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The enfant terrible of the pop-rock revival wades deeper into the genre, coming back with even less than before.
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Rolling Stone
His buzzsaw-bubblegum can be entertaining. But he needs to realize that “introspective” songwriting is about more than just yelling about how much you suck.
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NME
Colson Baker has gone from underrated rapper to bonafide rock star, but this sequel to 2020's 'Tickets To My Downfall' is no complacent victory lap.
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Wall of Sound
Although he’s still a way off from garnering respect from the rock/metal elites, but on Mainstream Sellout, he has one upped everyone who doubted him. It’s a surprisingly enjoyable album. I think you’ll agree with me here that there’s an ample mix of tracks here that’ll find its place amongst fans of pop punk, emo and beyond.
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Kerrang!
Machine Gun Kelly’s detractors will likely have you believe Mainstream Sellout is terrible. It isn’t, but nor is the fire burning as bright as it once was. There’s some fun to be had here, but ultimately, this is the weakest record of MGK’s rock era so far.
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Vinyl Chapters
Other standouts here are Papercut, Die in California, and Sid & Nancy. Almost every single song on Machine Gun Kelly’s latest album boasts an extraordinarily nostalgic instrumental that’ll thrust you back to the 2000s in all the best ways. It’s a wonderfully fun album, but you’ll have to do your best to not pay attention to some of the admittedly horrible lyrics.
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The Guardian
fun, fresh outta-the-00s punk-pop.
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Commedia
The variety of featured artists add a different taste as well. Many of the artists are featured just in one verse and supply the song with a rap. Obviously, MGK has experience rapping and could create his own raps, which he does in some songs, but having others add a verse makes the songs more individualized.
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Sputnik Music
Mainstream Sellout proves that you don’t need musical talent to make it big in the music scene. You just need a whole lot of money to hire an excellent marketing team. Colson Baker is the voice of a generation that will realise his voice is pretty dreadful approximately seven months from now.
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Brooklyn Vegan
Wayne especially works well -- he's been on a roll lately and he's no stranger to rap/rock crossover (or to collaborating with Travis Barker) -- but Mainstream Sellout's more rap-adjacent songs are also among its most forgettable. The album would've benefitted from MGK fusing his rap side and his pop punk side a little more seamlessly. It also would've benefitted from a little more oomph in general.
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AllMusic
While Tickets to My Downfall came across like an established star taking risks with his sound in the name of self-discovery, Mainstream Sellout feels mostly like a middling attempt to further cross over into pop-punk, this time lighter on ideas and cohesion.
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Bring the Noise
In the end, while not as varied and a bit more repetitive compared to its predecessor, mainstream sellout is still a very decent record, with plenty of songs proving that Machine Gun Kelly is not bad at all when it comes to playing pop-punk, as well as fusing it with some trap elements (when done right).
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Medium
Machine Gun Kelly’s best work, in this writer’s opinion, remains Hotel Diablo, a record that lyrically and stylistically encapsulated and amplified all of his strengths. While Tickets to My Downfall represented a step forward stylistically, Mainstream Sellout feels like a stall out. I hope the raw honesty of MGK’s hip-hop efforts merge seamlessly with his new pop-punk style someday. I’ve listened to Mainstream Sellout straight through three times now, and I feel like I just mainlined an entire bucket of KFC. It was fun, but now I just need a salad.
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Music Matters Media
Mainstream Sellout is surprisingly inoffensive for an album as loud as this one. It’s filled with power chords, resentment, hooky choruses, straightforward lyricism, and an unwavering belief that less is never more. Despite the strong reactions MGK generates from fans and critics alike, Mainstream Sellout, ultimately, is largely indistinguishable from most other recent pop-punk albums. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you
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Clash Magazine
In a way, the fresh coat of reflective paint on Kelly’s guitar feels symbolic. Rather than the playful, boisterous, chaotic energy of electric pink, we’ve moved into an era of hyper-awareness of the public eye. ‘mainstream sellout’ is a mirror of what people expect to hear from Machine Gun Kelly, rather than the unexpected brilliance captured on ‘Ticket To My Downfall’. It’s a shame that Kelly couldn’t release a follow-up equally as fresh and fluid to really prove he truly isn’t a “poser”, as actions always speak louder than words.
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