Punk-Rock artist Machine Gun Kelly’s production of “Downfalls High”
Image courtesy of Wall of Sound.
January 24, 2021
By Carolyn Malman
On January 18th, Machine Gun Kelly released a short film on YouTube titled “Downfalls High”, which features songs from his hit new album, “Tickets to My Downfall”. The short film features TikTok phenomenon Chase Hudson, also known as Lil Huddy, and star on the HBO hit TV show “Euphoria” Sydney Sweeney. Chase Hudson plays Phoenix, a high school student who falls in love with the popular girl, Scarlett, who is played by Sydney Sweeney. The film captures these love interests as they struggle with the challenges of being a teenager in modern day society. The film feels like an extended music video, with performances and acting scenes where Machine Gun Kelly’s new album “Tickets to My Downfall” narrates the film. For example, as the narrators begin to fall in love, Machine Gun Kelly performs “Bloody Valentine”, which reflects the chaotic nature that is associated with falling in love. As the story spirals, “nothing inside” reflects the inner feelings of the main character Phoenix. Machine Gun Kelly’s songs perfectly reflect the story, and add to the overall feeling conveyed to the audience from the short film.
In an interview with Sirius XM, Colson Baker, a.k.a Machine Gun Kelly, confirmed that the story is not a direct reflection of events in his life, however, it reflects feelings that he has experienced throughout his life. In this video-interview, he stated that he wanted to portray an idea that is not typically portrayed in movies. This theme in “Downfalls High” relates to the idea of the inability to move on after one loses someone close to them. Love continues despite not actually being with someone, and Machine Gun Kelly thought that this was an important idea to present to his audience.
The release of this short film was extremely long awaited, and fans were definitely not disappointed when it was finally released. In addition to a full album from Machine Gun Kelly towards the end of last year, people are able to enjoy a visual representation of the album with Machine Gun Kelly as a director of the production. This film combines struggles facing the American teenager paired with awesome music from Machine Gun Kelly’s new album “Tickets to My Downfall”. “Downfalls High” can be streamed on YouTube now.
