Everything you need to know about “Downfalls High”, Machine Gun Kelly’s latest project starring Sydney Sweeney

Machine Gun Kelly is taking things to the next level for his newest Billboard number one album Tickets to my Downfall. The Bloody Valentine singer celebrated the release of his self described, “musical film experience” Downfalls High. The nearly hour long music video takes on an ambitious nature of telling a full length love story with minimal dialogue and Kelly’s songs as thematic background. It also fully embraces the pop punk style that Machine Gun Kelly transitioned into with this album. Kelly noted that Tickets to my Downfall existed in the first place to encourage young people to learn instruments like the guitar, which also features heavily in both the album and the video. 

But what exactly is Downfalls High? Its creators’ Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun compare it to Grease with a rock sheen although they are the only ones who do the singing. Shot over the course of four days with COVID guidelines, Downfalls follows a high school outsider named Fenix played by Tik Tok superstar Chase Hudson (a.k.a Lil Huddy) as he falls in love with the most popular girl in school, Scarlett. When their relationship is tragically cut short, Fenix attempts to fulfill his dream of starting a band. Fans of the HBO hit Euphoria will immediately recognize Sydney Sweeney as Scarlett. Those two aren’t the only familiar faces to appear in the video. Also appearing are rapper Trippie Redd, Travis Barker (also an executive producer), Blackbear, and Iann Dior. 

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Don’t watch Downfalls High expecting a typical Hollywood movie and storyline. Often riding the line between music video and movie, the music and visuals are the true star of Downfalls High. With this being his directorial debut, Machine Gun Kelly includes several nods to his inspiration Grease. The most evident is the use of the color pink in reference to Grease’s famous Pink Ladies. Another nod to Grease is the star crossed love story the video focuses on. 

Just like Tickets to my Downfall the album, this risk seems to be paying off big for MGK. Sixteen million people tuned in to watch Downfalls High over the past weekend on Facebook with an additional four million and counting on Youtube.  To celebrate this milestone Machine Gun Kelly took to Instagram. He profusely thanked his fans for propelling this album’s cycle so far and making Tickets to my Downfall its own unique universe. 

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