Machine Gun Kelly has taken aim at “over-sensitive” artists who “cry about everything as a marketing tool.”
Speaking on Kerrang! video chat in which he addressed fan questions, Machine Gun Kelly – real name Colson Baker – took a thinly-veiled jab at his pop star peers who he believed used sadness as a tool to win sales.
After a fan named Katie explained that she found that Machine Gun Kelly came across as more honest than most artists, the ‘Bad Things’ hitmaker replied: “Some musicians are honest… they’re honestly annoying.”
Kelly continued, “They’re fucking cry(ing) about everything as a marketing tool and leave no space for people like me, who are like, ‘Yo, I actually never fucking cry about shit that I wanna cry about, but here I am today ready to cry about some shit’,” he fumed.
“I won’t (cry) because you fucked the whole landscape up because you’re fucking crying and went to your label with a marketing campaign like, ‘Hey, here’s my strategy, I’m gonna fucking tweet every day about how much I fucking hate myself and how sad I am and rack up the sympathy vote’,” he ranted.
Machine Gun Kelly then went on to explain that he disagreed with making sad music that didn’t demonstrate a message of resilience.
“If I’m such an inspiration to somebody, as sad as I am, aren’t I supposed to show that there’s resilience in that sadness? Aren’t I supposed to show that you’re supposed to smile through it?
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“I know the internet’s great, but it doesn’t need to necessarily be the form of how I’m going to let my diary out.”
Check out ‘Bloody Valentine’ by Machine Gun Kelly:
