There Are No Performers Quite Like Machine Gun Kelly And Travis Barker (And Their Girlfriends)
When we first heard that pop-punk revivalist Machine Gun Kelly would be performing “Papercuts” with pop-punk OG Travis Barker, we were stoked. The two artists paired up at last year's pre-show for an unforgettable burst of jangly goodness, so if history’s anything to go by, we knew their joint performance of “Papercuts” would blow us all out of the water.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Travis Barker or MGK story without some distraction by way of their all-star girlfriends: Kourtney Kardashian and Megan Fox. The women introduced their guys’ performance with a few fun quips and called them their “future baby daddies”. (We almost combusted.)
We barely had time to process any of this before the camera panned to the stage: MGK burst forth from a grave with his face covered in branches and smashed out the punk-inflected “Papercuts” with the (perennially shirtless) Travis Barker belting it out in the background. Serving up some serious nostalgia for old-school ’90s grunge, MGK closed out the awards show by smashing his guitar and falling to the ground – a likely homage to the late Kurt Cobain.
“You had to smash the guitar,” host Doja Cat deadpanned after all was said and done, appearing wholly unimpressed by the Blonde Don. We love you Doja Cat.
Unfortunately, we’re far too overwhelmed to even begin to even begin to speculate on what that “baby daddies” line was about. We feel like the kid at the end of the birthday party; all my friends have left, and we’re surrounded with bits of rogue wrapping paper and stuffed with too much cake.
Don’t worry, though: we’ll be back to expound on the “baby daddies” thing. As god as my witness, we will be back to expound.
Watch Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker's performance of "Papercuts" in full below.
Written by Reena Gupta, a Melbourne-based writer for MTV Australia. Follow her on Twitter @purpletank.
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