Machine Gun Kelly has revealed the details of his new album, mainstream sellout, including its tracklist and cover art. After Rolling Stone compared the LP’s tomato-covered artwork to the cover of Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee, which was shot by photographer Peter Ash Lee, Michelle Zauner jokingly tweeted that this is “2022’s feud of the year.”
The singer-songwriter spoke to Pitchfork about the perceived similarities, saying: “I don’t actually think it looks anything like my album cover at all. but I think it’s very funny that Rolling Stone put up an article about it just because there’s a circular fruit in the foreground. I mean his is people throwing tomatoes at him, and mine is persimmons peacefully hanging around me, so I think they’re very different concepts.”
She also called the pink tomatoes on MGK’s cover “a very contemporary Avril aesthetic,” adding: “Which, as much as I stan Avril, is an aesthetic I don’t really embrace for myself.”
Zauner went on to clarify that she has no issue with Machine Gun Kelly, who she hasn’t personally met. “He seems like a fine person,” she said. “I can’t imagine having rock beef with anyone, but if I had to choose, it would probably be Machine Gun Kelly.”
She concluded: “I’m honored to have a celebrity feud published in Rolling Stone today, it was not something I had anticipated. My manager actually was like, ‘I think you should lean into this. I think it’s so funny that I have to talk about it. I’m excited to see what clickbait you come up with. ‘Japanese Breakfast Slams Machine Gun Kelly!’”
Responding to Zauner on Twitter, Machine Gun Kelly wrote: “so should we beef over tomato’s or…should i thank them for introducing me to your album, because i just listened and i really like it.”
Machine Gun Kelly’s mainstream sellout is out March 25 and features collaborations with blackberry, WILLOW, Lil Wayne, Gunna, Young Thug, iann dior, and Bring Me the Horizon. Japanese Breakfast is up for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album at the 2022 Grammys.
Read about the Jubilee cover artwork in our 50 Best Albums Covers of 2021 feature.
