Willow Smith and Machine Gun Kelly Serve Up Pop-Punk Fun in “Emo Girl” Music Video

The pop-punk music gods are shining down upon us this week: after months of anticipation, Machine Gun Kelly and Willow Smith’s “Emo Lady” music video has lastly arrived. The artists teamed up on a single about their mutual love for — yep, you guessed it — emo women, and watching them belt out the lyrics collectively makes us wish to chant the refrain from a rooftop. The video kicks off with a cameo from MGK’s shut pal Travis Barker, who portrays a faculty trainer guiding younger college students by means of a museum discipline journey. As the children watch footage of Smith and MGK performing in varied settings, their outfits and make-up flip progressively extra, properly, emo till they’re sporting black lipstick, fishnets, and faux tattoos on the discipline journey’s conclusion.

“Emo Lady” incorporates a refined although simple tribute to MGK’s fiancée, Megan Fox — the intro line is a pattern of the starlet saying, “I’m a god,” in her hit 2009 movie “Jennifer’s Physique.” Though MGK and Barker initially wrote Smith’s verse for her, she wound up rewriting it with a view to keep extra true to her voice. “She places eyeliner on her darkish pores and skin, she tells me lies however she is aware of all of my secrets and techniques,” Smith sings earlier than becoming a member of MGK for a number of consecutive “I fell in love with an emo lady” chants.

Chatting with Barker about “Emo Lady” for a “Rolling Stone” function in November 2021, Smith stated, “To be a Black lady and be capable of come on that track and write my verse with my outlook on life — simply having the ability to be authentically me on that track — these are the sorts of issues which are going to make extra individuals really feel seen. That is essentially the most stunning a part of music.” The 21-year-old artist is blazing a path of her personal within the pop-punk style, collaborating with Avril Lavigne on “Develop” final 12 months and with Barker and Blink-182 on “Clear Soul” just a few months prior. We will not wait to see who she joins forces with subsequent.