It was his first collaborative project with drummer and producer Travis Barker, and features guest appearances from Halsey, Trippie Redd, Blackbear, and Iann Dior, as well as Bert McCracken and Yungblud on its deluxe edition.
While his first four studio albums had been hip hop/rap styled, by the end of the decade, Baker started moving into a rock music direction.
[4] The same year, Baker released his fourth studio album, Hotel Diablo, which ended with the track "I Think I'm Okay", a more rock-leaning song collaboration with Yungblud and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
[3][5] It was released as a single and became very popular,[5] hitting number 8 on the year-end Billboard US Hot Rock Songs[6] and ended up being certified platinum in the US.
[1] Baker created a more guitar-driven and live instrument sound in hopes of inspiring a younger generation to learn guitar.
[5] He wished to use the sound to branch out to a larger demographic as well, and succeeded, with Baker noting that his own father liked his music for the first time in his career.
[5] Baker used the time in lockdown to record a series of live-streamed performances titled "LockdownSessions", including a rendition of Paramore's "Misery Business".
[22][19] Baker also live-streamed a cover version of Rihanna’s "Love on the Brain" at the request of Marilyn Manson.
[5] A second single, "Concert for Aliens", was debuted on the nationally televised broadcast of Good Morning America, and later released on August 5, 2020.
[25] A music video was released a week later, which involved the band performing in front of a large crowd of aliens.
[26] A third single, "My Ex's Best Friend" featuring Blackbear, was released on August 7, 2020,[20] and has peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard all-format Hot 100 chart.
[36] The film stars Chase Hudson as Fenix, a quiet high schooler and Sydney Sweeney as the school's popular girl, Scarlett, as they navigate the beginnings of their romantic relationship.
After the band's first performance, Scarlett's best friend Tiffany (Maggie Lindemann) romantically pursues Fenix, however he turns her away.
[42] When Smith originally pitched casting Hudson as the film's protagonist, Baker had reservations due to his lack of a background in acting.
In addition, Baker also announced he would be joining the Kings of Leon and Black Pumas at the three-day NFL Draft from Apr.
[48][49] The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Kelly's successful transition from hip-hop to pop-punk.
was similarly positive, praising the album for being "...a slick sideways hop from what you might be expecting from Machine Gun Kelly, it's done excellently.
It celebrates everything great about pop-punk without feeling cookie-cutter or third division", and disagreed with Wall of Sound's assessment of the lyrics, praising them for its "open-diary honesty that fills the whole album, confessional and unflinching".
[54] In a much more critical review, Sputnikmusic claimed the album was a "completely egregious copy-paste of Blink 182’s glory day sound" and the "pop-punk equivalent to Greta Van Fleet's soulless imitations of Led Zeppelin".
[66] This follows further backlash from the public directed towards the Grammy's as notable artists such as Halsey, The Weeknd, Fiona Apple, and BTS were not included in the nomination list,[67] with the #Scammys trending on Twitter.