"More than Life" is a song by the American musician Machine Gun Kelly featuring the American musician

Glaive A glaive, sometimes spelled as glave, is a type of pole weapon, with a single edged blade on the end, known for its distinctive design and versatile combat applications. There are many similar polearms such as the war scythe, the Japanese nag ...

. It was released by Bad Boy and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

on June 10, 2022, as a single from the deluxe edition of the former's sixth studio album, '' Mainstream Sellout''. It was written by both Machine Gun Kelly and Glaive, alongside Corey Sanders, Ichika Fukui, Steve Manovski, and

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

; the latter assisted in its production. It is a

pop-punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

track characterized by its angsty vocals and histrionics, as well as a guitar motif and

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note ( American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...

power chords. A music video directed by Colin Tilley premiered on the same day as the song's release. During July 2022, a live performance music video was released via

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

, and the pair performed the song at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

. Machine Gun Kelly included the song in the setlist of his

Mainstream Sellout Tour The Mainstream Sellout Tour was a concert tour by American musician Machine Gun Kelly (musician), Machine Gun Kelly. The tour supported his sixth studio album ''Mainstream Sellout'' (2022), and visited North America and Europe. The tour began o ...

throughout 2022. It charted on ''Billboard''

Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of ...

and

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

charts, and on

Recorded Music NZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded ...

's New Zealand Hot Singles chart.

Background and release

Machine Gun Kelly released his sixth studio album, '' Mainstream Sellout'', in March 2022, to mixed critical reviews. However, it was commercially successful, debuting at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming his second number one album. Its

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

deluxe edition, subtitled ''Life in Pink'', was released on June 24, 2022, and "More than Life" served as a bonus track single from the deluxe. It was announced on Machine Gun Kelly's

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account on June 8, 2022, alongside its cover art and behind-the-scenes photographs of its music video, and was released by Bad Boy and

on June 10.

first garnered attention after posting a string of

hyperpop Hyperpop (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on p ...

songs during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Earlier in 2022, he released ''Old Dog, New Tricks'', the deluxe edition of his 2021

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP), ''All Dogs Go to Heaven''. A press release of the song said that it "exhibits MGK's gift for relaying passionate pain as he weighs his fears of vulnerability with the acceptance of newfound love". After Glaive recorded his verse of the song, the people working on it were impressed. This led to Machine Gun Kelly re-recording the song and changing his verse. In an interview with ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', Glaive expressed that it was an interesting story to tell: "It was so good that he had to change his verse!". During the same interview, he also commented on Machine Gun Kelly: "For the amount of people that really dislike this guy, he might be the nicest person I've ever met. Every time I've talked to him he's been kind-hearted, and said to call him if I need anything".

Composition

"More than Life" is 3 minutes and 16 seconds long. Both Machine Gun Kelly and Glaive wrote the song alongside Corey Sanders, Ichika Fukui, Steve Manovski, and

; the latter also produced the track. It was mixed by Rob Kinelski and was mastered by Will Quinnell. Fukui and Manovski provided additional production, while Eli Heisler assisted the mixing process. It is a

track with angsty vocals and histrionics. It begins with Fukui's clean guitar motif, which then expands into

power chords, as well as Machine Gun Kelly and Glaive's vocals. For ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Kat Bouza likened the song's melodramatic lyrics to 19th century

romance novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed ...

s and 2000s

LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...

posts. ''Louder'''s Paul Brannigan described the track as "rather moody and angst-ridden". He also wrote, "Lest anyone imagine that pop-punk's

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film ''Holiday in the Sun (film), Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such a ...

-dating, award-winning, record-breaking clown prince is having the time of his life, a cursory glance at the lyrics suggests otherwise".

Music video and live performances

Colin Tilley directed the stylized music video for "More than Life", which premiered alongside the song's release. It depicts Machine Gun Kelly getting covered in cement as he hangs out with Glaive in an old house filled with overgrown plants. In July 2022, a live performance of the song was released via

, which gained over a million views within a few hours of its release. In the same month, they also performed the song at

in Chicago, and Machine Gun Kelly included it in the setlist of his

throughout 2022.

Commercial performance

"More than Life" peaked at number 12 on ''Billboard''

chart, lasting eight weeks on the chart. It charted for one week

's New Zealand Hot Singles chart, peaking at number 17. On ''Billboard''

chart, it charted for one week, peaking at number 24.

Charts

References

{{Glaive (musician) 2022 singles 2022 songs Machine Gun Kelly (musician) songs Glaive (musician) songs Songs written by Travis Barker Songs written by Machine Gun Kelly (musician) Bad Boy Records singles Interscope Records singles