Downfalls High

''Tickets to My Downfall'' is the fifth studio album by American musician Machine Gun Kelly. It was released on September 25, 2020, by Bad Boy Records and Interscope Records. The album marks the departure from his established rap sound and became a more guitar-driven pop-punk album. It was his first collaborative project with drummer and producer Travis Barker, and features guest appearances from Halsey, Trippie Redd, Blackbear, and Iann Dior, as well as Bert McCracken and Yungblud on its deluxe edition.

''Tickets to My Downfall'' was preceded by the release of the singles: " Bloody Valentine", "Concert for Aliens" and "My Ex's Best Friend". The album was a commercial success, debuting atop the US ''Billboard'' 200, his first to do so. It was well-received by critics, and went on to be his first album to be certified platinum by the RIAA.

Background and recording

Machine Gun Kelly, birth name Colson Baker, had released four studio albums through the 2010s. While his first four studio albums had been hip hop/rap styled, by the end of the decade, Baker started moving into a rock music direction. In 2019, Baker appeared in the film ''The Dirt'', a biographic film about the band Mötley Crüe where he played drummer Tommy Lee. The same year, Baker released his fourth studio album, ''Hotel Diablo'', which ended with the track "I Think I'm Okay", a more rock-leaning song collaboration with Yungblud and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. It was released as a single and became very popular, hitting number 8 on the year-end ''Billboard'' US Hot Rock Songs and ended up being certified platinum in the US.

Baker, wishing to explore the sound further, booked a day in recording studio to work with Barker, to record what would become the song " Bloody Valentine". The session was so powerful to Baker that he asked Barker to set aside two months for them to collaborate on an entire studio album, to which Barker obliged. For much of the rest of the year, Baker would refer to working on the album informally referred to as "the untitled pop punk project". Along with Baker on vocals and guitar, the entire album would feature Barker on drums and as a producer.

Prior to the recording of the album, Baker expressed a wish for the album to include features from Bert McCracken of the Used and Chris Fronzak from Attila. The album went on to feature collaborations with Halsey on the track "Forget Me Too", Blackbear on the track "My Ex's Best Friend", Trippie Redd on the track "All I Know", and Iann Dior on "Nothing Inside", as well as McCracken and Yungblud on "Body Bag", from the album's deluxe edition. Other collaborations in the studio included Goody Grace, Mod Sun, Young Thug, and another collaboration with Yungblud. "Body Bag", features heavy similarities to Fall Out Boy’s 2005 single " Dance, Dance", which require clearance from the band for use, which was given by Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump just a day prior to release. Baker also noted that the album originally concluded with a track titled "Times of My Life", but that he couldn't get authorization to publish the song from Tom Petty's estate, who felt the hook was too similar to a song of Petty's. A year after the release, Baker noted that Corey Taylor of Slipknot had recorded some vocals for an unidentified track, but Baker wasn't happy with how it turned out and it didn't make the album. Conversely, Taylor argued that he passed on the song himself, stating he was not happy with the song ideas he was presented with on the track "Can't Look Back".

Themes and composition

Contrary to the hip-hop style of Baker's first four studio albums, ''Tickets to My Downfall'' was designed by Baker to be a pop-punk album. Baker created a more guitar-driven and live instrument sound in hopes of inspiring a younger generation to learn guitar. He wished to use the sound to branch out to a larger demographic as well, and succeeded, with Baker noting that his own father liked his music for the first time in his career. Tracks "Bloody Valentine" and "Concert for Aliens" were both described as "pop punk", while "My Ex's Best Friend" was described as having a more modern take on the genre, not quite "the same 'classic' pop punk vibe". The album's delay to September 2020 was something Baker felt worked out in the end, as he noted that the album has a summery, good-times vibe that he felt people could appreciate in enduring the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Baker used a metaphor related to the Goodyear Blimp to explain the meaning of the album title, stating:

Release and promotion

The album was originally expected to release in early 2020 after Baker's repeated teasers in late 2019 and early 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic would delay album release plans. Baker used the time in lockdown to record a series of live-streamed performances titled "LockdownSessions", including a rendition of Paramore's "Misery Business". The song’s performance caught the attention of music publications due to Paramore lead vocalist Hayley Williams's own denouncement of the song's lyrics earlier in the year. Baker also live-streamed a cover version of Rihanna’s "Love on the Brain" at the request of Marilyn Manson. Both songs became bonus tracks for a Target store special edition of the album.

The album's first formal single, " Bloody Valentine" was released on May 1, 2020. As of early August, the song had over 30 million YouTube views. At the time of the release, Baker announced that the album had been delayed to summer 2020. A second single, "Concert for Aliens", was debuted on the nationally televised broadcast of ''Good Morning America'', and later released on August 5, 2020. A music video was released a week later, which involved the band performing in front of a large crowd of aliens. A third single, "My Ex's Best Friend" featuring Blackbear, was released on August 7, 2020, and has peaked at number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' all-format Hot 100 chart.

On September 7, the album's tracklist and cover art were released. However, later in the day, it was found that the album artwork - a sketch of a man falling down - unbeknownst to Baker, was closely modeled after a photograph that they did not have the legal rights to use, causing Baker to apologize and announce that a new album cover would be created. He later noted he had signed thousands of copies of the album with the outdated album artwork.

The album was released on September 25, 2020, and a livestream of a live performance of the entire album was performed on October 1, 2020. In September 29, a deluxe edition of the album, dubbed the "Sold Out" edition, was released, featuring four new songs, the band's "Misery Business" cover, and an acoustic rendition of "Bloody Valentine". Concurrently, a music video for the track "Drunk Face" was also released.

''Downfalls High''

The release of a movie based on the album was first announced by Baker on November 22, 2020. The film, titled ''Downfalls High'' was premiered at 6pm PST on January 15, 2021, through Facebook.

The film stars Chase Hudson as Fenix, a quiet high schooler and Sydney Sweeney as the school's popular girl, Scarlett, as they navigate the beginnings of their romantic relationship. It begins following Fenix, as he is in a psychiatric hospital, before cutting to a news report that states that a student at Downfalls High School, whose music had recently gained success, had cut his ear off at graduation. It then flashes back to eight months prior, as Fenix can be seen getting bullied by a jock (Jaden Hossler). Scarlett soon leaves her popular friends to spend time with Fenix, his friend Jimmy (Jimmy Bennett) and Jimmy's girlfriend (Caroline Miner Smith), who had already dropped out of school. Scarlett soon buys Fenix a guitar and is revealed to be pregnant, before being involved in a car accident that kills her, without Fenix knowing about her pregnancy. Through his grieving, Fenix forms the band Pink Switchblade using the guitar, with Jimmy and Jimmy's friend (Landon Barker). After the band's first performance, Scarlett's best friend Tiffany (Maggie Lindemann) romantically pursues Fenix, however he turns her away. Fenix soon discovers Scarlett's pregnancy and decides to chop his ear off at his graduation as an act of despair.

Directed by Baker and Derek Smith, it was filmed in four days during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film also includes appearances from Iann Dior, Omer Fedi, Trippie Redd and Blackbear.

When Smith originally pitched casting Hudson as the film's protagonist, Baker had reservations due to his lack of a background in acting. In an interview with Metro, Smith stated that the main reason for this casting choice was that he wanted to style Hudson's clothing, stating "My first stipulation to working on any project within the last three years was that I can style it. I can’t tell you how fucking much I hate style when I look at TV and I see people literally dressing horribly".

Much of the clothes worn by actors throughout the film were a part of Smith and Baker's then-unreleased clothing line "No Safety". Many were also the pair's own personal clothing.

The film was generally well received and gained over 16 million views in its first weekend. ''NME'' rated the film 4/5 stars, stating "In a world of content for content's sake – films have often been used by artists try and extend the lifespan of an album – ''Downfalls High'' feels driven by purpose". Whereas, ''Exclaim!'' rated it 4/10 and described it as "a 50-minute cringefest that rings hollow."

Tour

Baker announced via social media that he would be going on tour in further promotion on the album during the fall of 2021 in the Tickets to My Downfall U.S. Tour, joined by Caroles Daughter, Jxdn, and KennyHoopla. The tour dates were only announced in North America due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the album would continue to be promoted internationally in the summer of 2022 via the higher profile Mainstream Sellout Tour. In addition, Baker also announced he would be joining the Kings of Leon and Black Pumas at the three-day NFL Draft from Apr. 29 to May 1 in 2021.

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Kelly's successful transition from hip-hop to pop-punk. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Tickets to My Downfall'' received an average score of 72 based on 6 reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''Wall of Sound'' praised the album, citing Barker's drumming, production and concluding that "What the album lacks in lyrical substance though, is made up for with the abundance of infectious pop melodies and catchy rock choruses." ''Kerrang!'' was similarly positive, praising the album for being "...a slick sideways hop from what you might be expecting from Machine Gun Kelly, it's done excellently. It celebrates everything great about pop-punk without feeling cookie-cutter or third division", and disagreed with ''Wall of Sound''s assessment of the lyrics, praising them for its "open-diary honesty that fills the whole album, confessional and unflinching". In a much more critical review, ''Sputnikmusic'' claimed the album was a "completely egregious copy-paste of Blink 182’s glory day sound" and the "pop-punk equivalent to Greta Van Fleet's soulless imitations of Led Zeppelin".

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Baker took home the award for Top Rock Album at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards and at the iHeartRadio Music Awards for the Alternate-Rock Album of the Year. ''Tickets to My Downfall'' did not receive any nominations from the Academy for the Grammy Awards, fans showed their support for the album over Twitter following a tweet from Baker, as fans and Baker argued that the album should have been included in the nominations list. This follows further backlash from the public directed towards the Grammy's as notable artists such as Halsey, The Weeknd, Fiona Apple, and BTS were not included in the nomination list, with the ''#Scammys'' trending on Twitter.

Year-end lists

Numerous critics and publications listed ''Tickets to My Downfall'' in their year-end ranking of the best albums of 2020.

Commercial performance

''Tickets to My Downfall'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 all-format albums chart, moving 126,000 album equivalent units in its first week. It became his first number one album, tripling the opening numbers for his prior album, ''Hotel Diablo'' in 2019, and made it the first rock album to top the chart in just over a year, since Tool's album ''Fear Inoculum'' in September 2019. It became the fifth longest charting album on ''Billboard's'' Top Rock Albums history after spending thirteen weeks in the number one spot. The album was confirmed to have just sold over 200,000 copies in pure album sales, as of April 8, 2022. The album received a Platinum certification in the United States RIAA after a year with 1 million units sold.

In Australia, the album debuted and peaked at number two on the ARIA Albums Chart for the chart dated 5 October 2020, held off from the number one position by Joji's ''Nectar''. The following week, the album fell three positions to number five.

In Canada, the album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart for the chart dated 10 October 2020. The album was confirmed to have sold over 49,000 units by 13 July 2021. The album received a platinum certification that year indicating over 60,000 units sold.

The popularity of the album began a pop punk revival in the 2020s. ''The Evening Standard'' credited the album as "bridg ngthe gap" between the modern pop punk scene and the mainstream interest that developed from the emo rap scene.

Track listing

Note
* Track titles are stylized in all lowercase, with the exception of "WWIII". However, all physical copies render the tracklist in all uppercase.
* signifies a co-producer
* signifies an additional producer
* "All I Know" contains an interpolation of "Knowledge", written by Jesse Michaels, Tim Armstrong, Matt Freeman, and Dave Mello, and performed by Operation Ivy.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and the album's liner notes.

Musicians

* Colson Baker – vocals , guitar
* Travis Barker – drums , keyboards , piano , guitar , drum programming , synthesizer , bass , programming
* Kevin Thrasher – background vocals
* Kevin Bivona – Hammond organ , bass , guitar , piano , synthesizer
* Omer Fedi – bass guitar , guitar
* Nick Long – guitar , bass
* Halsey – vocals
* Trippie Redd – vocals
* Blackbear – vocals
* Iann Dior – vocals
* Keith Varon – guitar
* Jared Scharff – guitar
* Johan Lenox – strings
* Bert McCracken – vocals
* Yungblud – vocals

Technical

* Chris Gehringer – mastering engineer
* Colin Leonard – mastering engineer
* Adam Hawkins – mixer
* Neal Avron – mixer
* Serban Ghenea – mixer
* Kevin Thrasher – engineer
* John Hanes – mix engineer
* Scott Skrzynski – assistant mixer

Artwork

* Terry Urban – album artwork, design
* Colson Baker – art concept
* Justin Campbell – photography
* Daniel Rojas – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

* "Love Race" - a 2021 non-album single noted to be in the same vein of the album

References

External links

*

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2020 albums
Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Albums produced by Travis Barker
Machine Gun Kelly (musician) albums
Bad Boy Records albums
Interscope Records albums
Albums produced by Omer Fedi
Albums produced by Nick Mira
Albums produced by Keith Varon