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Machine Gun Kelly: YUNGBLUD And I Are The Modern-Day Elton John And Jimi Hendrix
MGK says he and YUNGBLUD "can make some sort of union of rock stars" on their respective sides of the pond.
- MGK photo:
- Jonathan Weiner
- YUNGBLUD photo:
- Tom Pallant
Fresh off the back of his Number One pop-punk album Tickets To My Downfall, Machine Gun Kelly has given his positive thoughts towards the state of music in 2020, praising his own successes in the rock world, as well as the work of friend/collaborator YUNGBLUD.
Discussing the pair's songs together – 2019 smash single I Think I'm OKAY, and recent collab Body Bag on the deluxe edition of …Downfall – Machine Gun Kelly tells NME that he not only became a fan of YUNGBLUD because of his music, but also "his attitude and his way of dressing".
"His raw voice is so good, and he has an immense love for rock’n’roll," MGK explains. "Those energies gravitate towards each other."
Read this: Machine Gun Kelly: From rap devil to pop-punk god
The musician – real name Colson Baker – continues that he sees the pair as flying the flag for alternative music in their respective countries: Machine Gun Kelly in America, and Doncaster-born YUNGBLUD in the UK: "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."
That isn't to say that he or YUNGBLUD necessarily set out to establish themselves as modern-day rock stars, though.
Speaking to Kerrang! in September about his move from rap into pop-punk, Machine Gun Kelly asserted, “I wanna start out by saying that I would like to normalise how we think about doing multiple types of music. I didn’t ‘switch genres’; I’m versatile, and the wall isn’t boxed in. I would like to send good energy and appreciation to people doing things that go against what is an imaginary box that someone too scared to break out of puts around you.
“I would like to project creativity and love, rather than limitations. Limitations cause you to look at me with my pink nails and believe that this same hand won’t punch you in the face, right? Limitations would cause you to believe that, because I’ve put out four albums that are rap, I shouldn’t put out a fifth album that’s not rap.”
Read this: YUNGBLUD is the weirdo this generation needs
