"Maybe" is a song by American musician

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomp ...

. It was released on March 16, 2022, as the fourth single from his sixth studio album ''

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 Barke ...

''. The song features performances from members of the British rock band

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan ...

Background

"Maybe" was first premiered on March 4, 2022, at the "Emo Nite" live event club night at

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

' Avalon Hollywood venue. The song was released as the fourth single from

's sixth studio album on March 16, ''

'', after " Papercuts", " Emo Girl", and "Ay!". The song features members of the British rock band

; the track is their second collaboration of 2022, following their remixed version of " Bad Habits" with

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. An acoustic variation of the song was released on June 23, 2022 alongside the release of "''Life in Pink Deluxe"'' version of the ''Mainstream Sellout'' album. As of July 25th, 2022 the official audio version is approaching 300k views and over 12k likes.

Themes and composition

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' described the song as "

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...

, albeit with some signature screaming from Sykes". The song features alternating vocals from Kelly and Sykes, with clean, melodic vocals throughout, and "

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...

-styled screaming" in the bridge by Sykes alone. The song opens up with a chant of "2,3,5!" by Kelly, as he felt the typical start of "1,2,3" was boring. ''

BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...

'', ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60 ...

'', ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' and ''Wall of Sound'' compared the track to the sound of

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, w ...

's song " Misery Business", a song that Kelly had covered in the past. '' Far Out Magazine'' stated that the intro sounds similar to

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Ya ...

's " Black Hole Sun" and that the main guitar riff sounds similar to +44's " When Your Heart Stops Beating". ''

The Daily Californian ''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesd ...

'' described it as a combination of

Everlast Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...

's " What It's Like", and AFI's "

Miss Murder "Miss Murder" is a song by American rock band AFI. It was released on April 3, 2006, as the lead single from their seventh studio album ''Decemberunderground''. It was initially scheduled to premiere on LIVE 105 on April 13, 2006; however, it wa ...

" and the general sound of

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their sound has ...

. '' Clash'' compared the guitars to

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and dr ...

Reception

''Wall of Sound'' praised the song for being a "certainly decent track" and a "stand out on the album for alternative fans", whereas ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication '' Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' referred to it as a "massive banger". '' Clash'' also praised it, calling the song a "total delight". Other publications were less positive, critiquing it for its lack of originality.

MetalSucks MetalSucks is a heavy metal music-themed news website. The site features reviews, interviews, information on latest metal releases and blog-like posts from the writers, most notably Vince Neilstein and Axl Rosenberg. History The site was fou ...

referred to it as "bland and predictable", while ''BrooklynVegan'' complained that it was too similar to Paramore's "Misery Business", to the point of declaring they felt Kelly probably owed the band royalty payments. ''Far Out Magazine'' called it terrible and said that the intro is "cringe-inducing". ''

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

'' said that Oli Sykes outshines Baker due to not being completely tone-deaf. ''Wall of Sounds album reviewer also felt differently about the track, concluding that "expectations fell short here."

Music video

The official music video for "Maybe" was released on March 25, 2022 and was directed by Marc Klasfeld. The video is set and recorded inside The Shard in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

where Machine Gun Kelly performs the song alongside

's Oli Sykes and

's drummer and album's producer

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...

, as the glass from The Shard shatters around them and forms into a massive cloud over the city as the song culminates and ends.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. Musicians *

Colson Baker Colson Baker (born April 22, 1990), known professionally as Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is noted for his genre duality across alternative rock with hip hop. Machine Gun Kelly released f ...

– lead vocals, composer, lyricist, guitars * Oliver Sykes – featured vocals, composer, lyricist * Lee Malia – guitars * Jordan Fish – keyboards, programming, percussion, backing vocals, composer, lyricist * Matt Kean – bass guitars * Matt Nicholls – drums Additional personnel *

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, composer, lyricist * Omer Fedi – producer, composer, lyricist *

Adam Hawkins Adam Hawkins (born July 1976) is an American recording and mix engineer. Life and career Hawkins was born in New Jersey, and later moved with his family to North Carolina. After graduating from high school he moved back to New Jersey to become a ...

– mixing, studio personnel *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

–

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in dist ...

, studio personnel * Nick Long – producer, co-producer, composer, lyricist * BazeXX – producer * SlimXX – producer * Stephen Basil – composer, lyricist * Brandon Allen – composer, lyricist * K Thrash –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, studio personnel * Henry Lunetta – assistant mixer, studio personnel * Hunter Smith – assistant mixer, studio personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Bring Me the Horizon 2022 singles 2022 songs Bring Me the Horizon songs Machine Gun Kelly (musician) songs Song recordings produced by Travis Barker Songs written by Machine Gun Kelly (musician) Songs written by Oliver Sykes Songs written by Omer Fedi Songs written by Travis Barker Post-hardcore songs