Another outsider makes his way into the realm of country music. Recently, Machine Gun Kelly previews an angsty cover of Zach Bryan's "Sun to Me" on Instagram. ""hope you don't mind i added some of my vibe to your song @zachlanebryan," he captions the post.
Fans fully invest in this new era for Machine Gun Kelly. One user gives lofty praise for the pop punker, saying, Colson is a musical genius. He's the definition of what I think life is. It's never linear. It's evolving and growing and changing constantly. That's just what he's doing, and in any genre he wants. He's not limiting himself. And he's thriving in it."
In addition, country stars cosign Kelly's rendition of Zach Bryan too. Brantley Gilbert lauds the snippet with clapping emojis, saying "Here for this bro."
Machine Gun Kelly certainly puts in the effort to try and fit along with the rest of Nashville. For starters, CMA Fest embraces him with open arms and he responds by performing a rendition of "There's Your Trouble" by The Chicks. Moreover, Jelly Roll cosigns him and teases that they have music coming out. "That's my buddy, man, we're cookin'," he says in an interview. "We work a lot, man. I've known of Kells 15 years, probably, 14 years since we were both on the underground hip-hop scene."
Machine Gun Kelly Continues to Dip His Toes into Country Music
This pivot proves to be a new trend at this rate. In 2018, Justin Timberlake ushers in his era of 'Man of the Woods. Unfortunately, it isn't a great album and the fan reception reflects this. Still, it ushers in what's ahead. Now, Post Malone sees a career resurgence at the moment with his transition into country. Time will tell if the industry opens its arms to Machine Gun Kelly.
However, the positive reception strikes me as a bit absurd. First, it's not very good. Regardless of fan reception, Additionally, I think we can all see this for what it is. MGK seems extremely disingenuous here. He begins in rap music and loses luster there. He tries the plainer pop standards and the hits dry up soon after.
Then, Kelly gives pop punk a whirl. It works for a little bit, there are a couple songs that genuinely work and seem like a good reflection of his skillset and his personality. However, a lot of that comes of the back of Travis Barker's incredible production. Now, he tries his hand at country while it thrives at its hottest point? It's wildly opportunistic and I'm wildly skeptical of the intentions.
