Who knew rapper Machine Gun Kelly would take a hard left into pop punk, and somehow, do pretty well in it? Accompanied by pop punk drummer legend Travis Barker and modern rockstar YUNGBLUD, the trio pumped out one of the best pop punk songs in the past few years.
It's such a dynamic song for being less than three minutes, it starts off with a simple acoustic riff and ends off with an emotionally charged vocal acapella, with all the essences of pop punk in between. Barker's signature style of drumming is ever-present in this song, always full of energy and rhythm. It starts off straight away with the chorus and you can immediately tell it's filled with teenage angst and emo.
MGK's vocals are surprisingly good for pop punk, with that lower range and minor grit that he has going. It's greatly complemented by YUNGBLUD's guest feature, a voice so emotionally strong and so raw that makes it so unique in the modern scene. I absolutely love how their voices overlap in the final minute of the song, it just reverberates with so much emotion that it's hard for it not to be cathartic. It's a pretty bold move for them to drop all the instruments at the end, but I think it just hits even harder with how raw it is, and makes you want to cry.
The instrumentals aren't complex, it's modern pop punk, a simple chord progression is more than enough to get things working, but I love the catchy acoustic riff at the start, it adds a unique element of identity to this song that most pop punk songs don't have. Nothing feels overused in this song, even if they repeat lines here and there, and everything about the vibe and energy in this song is crafted so well, it feels very natural. Having heard that YUNGBLUD essentially freestyled his verse in the studio, it just adds to the idea that they're all such talented musicians and how nothing about this song feels forced.
There's just so much to love about this song. Sure, it's not the classic pop punk we've all grown to love from bands like blink-182, All Time Low or Paramore, but it keeps the essence of it with a modern twist and the collaboration of both old and new faces from different genres just makes it so much better. Like a cherry on the cake, it's a catharsis that I generously made use of going into 2020, so it gets a few bonus sentiment points from me.
Rating: 5/5
"Hotel Diablo" Album Cover