Pop Punk
Boston Calling 2022 Photo Gallery: Metallica, Avril Lavigne, Nine Inch Nails, & More
Despite looking nothing like the festival that was first announced back in May 2021 — or even what was detailed in January of this year — Boston Calling 2022 did indeed happen, and we have the photos to prove it. Unfortunate circumstances, positive COVID tests, and severe weather warnings meant a number of artists on the original lineup never took the stage. It also meant that Nine Inch Nails performed a rare double-header, topping both Friday and Saturday night. So the festival may not have been exactly what fans were expecting when they first bought tickets, but if you were able to look past all the unavoidable misfortunes, there was still more than enough to make for a successful Memorial Day Weekend event. With performances from Metallica, Run the Jewels, HAIM, Avril Lavigne, Weezer, M...
Song of the Week: My Chemical Romance Return After Eight Years With “The Foundations of Decay”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, My Chemical Romance return. My Chemical Romance have re-entered the chat: after eight years and a lengthy hiatus, the emo icons are finally back with a new song, the brooding and blistering “The Foundations of Decay.” Their last album, 2010’s Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, marked a maximalist combination of some of their most accessible material with a dystopian storyline, and it would have been easy for MCR to return to their positions as pop rock extraordinaires. (This is a band that ha...
Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier on Returning to Their Roots, 20 years of Their Debut LP, and Pop Punk’s New Era
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about Harder Than It Looks, the sixth album from the pop punk band. Related Video The Canadian musician discusses going back to their roots,how this new record arrives on the 20th anniversary of their debut, their current tour with Sum 41, and making a cameo in 2004’s Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie New York Minute. Bouvier also gives his thoughts on the new class of pop punk, especially Machine Gun Kelly, Olivia Rodrigo, and Willow, and talks being a fan of country music, the thin line between genres, and the toxic nature of the online world. Advertis...
Megan Fox Believes She Manifested Machine Gun Kelly: “I Think I Made Him”
Like something out of Practical Magic, Megan Fox claims she manifested Machine Gun Kelly as a child. Speaking to Glamour UK for its latest cover story, the actress revisited meeting her now-fiancé on the set of 2021’s Midnight in the Switchgrass — the Bruce Willis crime thriller Kelly has said in the past he only joined as an opportunity to meet Fox. “He says that,” she told the magazine. “And I do believe even the day before, he was trying to basically quit the movie and his best friend, Rook, his drummer, and then also his manager, Ashleigh, were both like, ‘But your scenes are with Megan Fox.’ And he was like, ‘Fuck it! I’ll get on the plane.’” Related Video As for Fox, she confessed she “didn’t know why I was taking the movie. I just knew I needed to do it for some reason.” And i...
Olivia Rodrigo Kicks Off Her “Sour Tour” in Portland, Oregon: Photos + Setlist
Olivia Rodrigo was already a two-time Grammy winner before she’d even had her own tour. Not the typical order of operations for artists, but Rodrigo is a new kind of pop star. With her Best New Artist gramophone in tow, the “drivers license” singer finally launched her first-ever headlining tour on Tuesday, April 5th at Portland, Oregon’s Theater of the Clouds — and our photographer Dan Garcia was there to capture it all. The “Sour Tour” kick-off concert featured an entire (if out of order) run-through of the album of the same name — not surprising as Sour is Rodrigo’s only LP. The setlist was padded with a pair of covers: Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” (in honor of “the pop-punk princess herself,” as Rodrigo put it) and Veruca Salt’s “Seether.” Below, find a photo gallery of Olivia Ro...
Yikes! Machine Gun Kelly Unwisely Covers System of a Down’s “Aerials”: Watch
Either Machine Gun Kelly is trying desperately to alienate himself from metalheads, or is just trolling all of us. First, he insulted Slipknot, and now he’s butchered a cover of System of a Down’s “Aerials.” The rapper turned pop-punk singer was a guest on The Howard Stern Show this week. For some odd reason, MGK thought it would be a good idea for him and his band to perform the System of a Down track as part of his visit. It’s no easy task for any singer to match Serj Tankian’s soaring operatic vocals, let alone one who’s range is limited like MGK. While his backing band did an admirable job on the instrumentation of the Toxicity song, MGK’s singing was rough right from the first note, and sounded like one continuous vocal strain throughout the entire performance. Seriously, if you can v...
Machine Gun Kelly on Pop Punk Success: “I Earned That Shit”
In a first for his career, Machine Gun Kelly is right on time. His breakthrough song “Wild Boy” was late to trap in hip-hop, and his 2019 curveball Hotel Diablo came years after artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Peep had brought about the emo rap revolution. Despite picking up a sizable audience, critics never warmed up, pegging him as another white carpetbagger capitalizing on Black excellence. But he saw the pop punk wave coming, and in 2020 Tickets to My Downfall surfed that towering trend to win its place as the No. 1 album in the country — MGK’s first such achievement. Now, he’s not only headlining marquee festivals, he’s dunking on first-wave pop punk acts bitching from the smaller font, telling Billboard,“I earned that shit.” “I know it kills certain bands i...
Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane Cover My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade”: Watch
Nothing beats the delirium of the late-night end of a South by Southwest showcase — especially when the bands on the bill start pulling out their best emo covers. Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane did just that Wednesday night (March 16th), teaming up for a group singalong of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade.” Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory Records hosted its own showcase at the Austin festival, dubbed the Saddest Factory Records Corporate Retreat. Charlie Hickey, Sloppy Jane, Claud, and MUNA performed at the event, while Bridgers acted as MC (while also hopping onstage with the artists throughout the night). For the big finale, the acts engaged in a “TEAM BUILDING: Karaoke” session. Beyond the always-welcome emo nostalgia, this particular Black Parade magic also gifted fa...
Cardi B Reveals She’s a My Chemical Romance Stan: “They Don’t Make Music Like This Anymore”
Don’t hold your breath, but Cardi B might be the next rapper to come out with a pop-punk album. As 2000s emo continues its unexpected second (third?) cultural zeitgeist moment, the Bronx artist has revealed a pressing fascination with… My Chemical Romance? “They don’t make music like this anymore,” Cardi B tweeted Tuesday (March 15th), attaching a short clip of the MCR classic “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” As of this writing, the tweet has already wracked up over 25,000 likes, a testament to the world’s excitement as the band’s long-awaited, oft-rescheduled reunion tour inches closer to becoming a reality. Cardi B is hardly the first hip-hop artist to dabble in pop-punk. WILLOW and Machine Gun Kelly recently fell in love with an “emo girl,” and Kid Cudi and Lil Peep were rapping about their ...
Avril Lavigne Drops New Album Love Sux: Stream
Avril Lavigne has unveiled her brand new album Love Sux via DTA/Elektra Records. Stream it below on Apple Music and Spotify. As the singer’s first full-length studio effort since 2019’s Head Above Water, the album signals a brash and delightfully bratty return to her pop-punk roots with singles like “Bite Me” featuring Travis Barker and the Blackbear-assisted “Love It When You Hate Me.” In addition, the LP contains other collaborations with Machine Gun Kelly (“Bois Lie”) and Barker’s Blink-182 bandmate Mark Hoppus (“All I Wanted”). “The album is light and happy, even though there’s songs about heartbreak and breaking up. But it’s also anthemic, and it’s powerful, and it has a positive message for people to stand up for yourself, to have self-worth,” Lavigne said in a December interview wit...
Avril Lavigne’s Love Sux Was Originally Meant to Be a Double Album
Avril Lavigne returns to her pop punk roots this week with the release of her seventh album, Love Sux, but apparently, come release day, we’ll be missing out on a whole other batch of bangers. In a recent interview on Kyle Meredith With…, the emo queen revealed that Love Sux was originally meant to be a double album. Written in the aftermath of one-too-many failed relationships, Love Sux is a lighthearted, guitar-driven ode to those protective walls we put up once we’ve been burned by another. The forthcoming LP features 12 songs, but Lavigne was quick to share that she wrote over 30 songs with producers John Feldmann and Mod Sun for the project with the same spirit — many of which she’s still itching to release. “I have some favorites that didn’t even make the album,” Lavigne sa...
Simple Plan and Sum 41 Announce 2022 “Blame Canada” US Tour
Pop punk is the Peter Pan of rock music, unwilling or unable to grow up, and so it’s fitting that a pop punk 20th anniversary tour would be named after a two-decades-old South Park joke. Canadian rockers Simple Plan and Sum 41 have announced the “Blame Canada” tour, a 36-date trek through the United States. The “Blame Canada” tour will find both bands performing songs from their debut albums, with Sum 41 powering through 2001’s All Killer No Filler and Simple Plan going full-throttle on 2002’s No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls. “We’re so happy to finally be able to play shows again and couldn’t be more excited to head out on the ‘Blame Canada’ tour with Sum 41!” Pierre Bouvier, Chuck Comeau, Sebastien Lefebvre, and Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan said in a statement. “It’s har...
