''Bloom'' (stylized as bloom) is the third studio album by American musician
Machine Gun Kelly
George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...
. It was released on May 12, 2017, by
Bad Boy,
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
, and EST 19XX. The album was preceded by the hit single, "
Bad Things", a collaboration with
Camila Cabello
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...
,
which reached number four on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100,
The album features guest appearances from
Quavo
Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), known professionally as Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of hip hop group Migos. Quavo is the uncle of late fellow Migos m ...
,
Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...
,
Ty Dolla $ign
Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...
,
James Arthur
James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the fin ...
, and
Camila Cabello
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...
.
Singles
On October 14, 2016, "
Bad Things", featuring a duet with Cuban-American singer
Camila Cabello
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...
, was released as the lead single from ''Bloom''. The song peaked at number 4 in the United States and number 16 in the United Kingdom.
The second single from the album, "
At My Best
"At My Best" is a song by American rapper Machine Gun Kelly, featuring American singer Hailee Steinfeld. It was released on March 17, 2017 via Bad Boy and Interscope. It is Machine Gun Kelly's second single to enter ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after ...
", featuring American singer
Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...
, was released on March 17, 2017. It peaked at number 60 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Originally released as a promotional single on April 13, 2017, "
Trap Paris
"Trap Paris" is a song by American musician Machine Gun Kelly (musician), Machine Gun Kelly featuring American musicians Quavo and Ty Dolla $ign.
It was released on April 13, 2017, via Bad Boy Records, Bad Boy and Interscope Records, Interscope.
...
", featuring
Quavo
Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), known professionally as Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of hip hop group Migos. Quavo is the uncle of late fellow Migos m ...
and
Ty Dolla Sign
Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...
, was released as the third single for ''Bloom'' on May 12, 2017. Its accompanying video was directed by Ben Griffin and debuted on MGK's VEVO on June 7, 2017.
The fourth single from the album, "
Go for Broke
Go for broke or going for broke may refer to:
Films
* ''Go for Broke!'' (1951 film), a film about the 442nd Infantry Regiment
* ''Go For Broke'' aka ''Tutto per tutto'', aka ''All Out'' (1968 Italian spaghetti Western directed by Umberto Lenzi)
* ...
", featuring UK singer
James Arthur
James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the fin ...
, was named as the official theme for
WWE SummerSlam 2017 and sent to top 40 radio on June 27, 2017.
The fifth single from the album, "The Break Up", was released on December 15, 2017. The music video, directed by Jordan Wozy, was released on February 14, 2018.
"27", the sixth single, was released April 21, 2018 (a day before Kelly's 28th birthday). Its music video was released the same day.
Commercial performance
''Bloom'' debuted at number eight on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 57,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s, of which 38,000 were pure album sales.
In its second week, the album dropped to number 29 selling 16,500 total album-equivalent units; and in its third week, the album dropped to 43, selling another 11,000 album equivalent units. As of early June 2017, the album had sold a total of 85,000 units.
Critical reception
''Bloom'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from reviews from mainstream critics, gave the album an average score of 72 out of 100 based on 4 reviews.
In a positive review, Preezy of ''
XXL'' praised the growth seen between ''
General Admission
In live entertainment, there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators—including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes which are most commonly used, though there are no hard and fast rules and alter ...
'' and ''Bloom''. He praised both the lyrical content and production on the album. However, he was critical in the fact that the album was not strong enough to be his big comeback after the critical failure of ''
General Admission
In live entertainment, there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators—including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes which are most commonly used, though there are no hard and fast rules and alter ...
''.
In a positive review, Aaron McKrell of ''
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
'' gave the album a 4/5, and praised Kelly's vocal delivery on the album, along with the production and lyrical content.
Dan Leroy of ''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. He stated that Kelly's vocals were amazing and his lyrics seemed sincere, but that it felt like listening to more of a
persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally ref ...
than to an attempt to address a sometimes messy life.
In a mixed review, Neil Z Yeung of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album 3 stars, stating the half of the songs on the album were made to be radio hits, and that it was toned down from Kelly's previous two albums. However, he said the introspective maturity of the album was admirable.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2017 albums
Machine Gun Kelly (musician) albums
Bad Boy Records albums
Interscope Records albums
Albums produced by Happy Perez
Albums produced by the Runners
Albums produced by Sonny Digital
Alternative hip hop albums by American artists