Japanese Breakfast and Machine Gun Kelly have shrugged off comparisons between the Korean-American artist’s album art, and the new cover unveiled by the US rapper.
Earlier this week, Rolling Stone published an article addressing what the journalist perceived to be similarities between Machine Gun Kelly’s cover art for his forthcoming album, Mainstream Sellout, and Japanese Breakfast’s Grammy-nominated LP, Jubilee.
Some fans on social media also seemed to notice similarities between the two.
MGK’s shows him wielding a guitar while being pelted by pink tomatoes, while Japanese Breakfast’s shows frontwoman Michelle Zauner posing in a yellow dress with persimmons suspended in front of her.
“2022’s feud of the year,” Japanese Breakfast joked in response, linking to the article.
“So should we beef over tomatoes or…should I thank them for introducing me to your album, because i just listened and i really like it,” MGK replied.
“Thank you,” Japanese Breakfast replied, adding a tomato emoji.
“I don’t actually think it looks anything like my album cover at all,” Zauner told Pitchfork in a follow-up interview, “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.”
Addressing the pink aesthetic of MGK’s album art, she said: “Yeah, it’s a very contemporary Avril aesthetic. Which, as much as I stan Avril, is an aesthetic I don’t really embrace for myself.”
She added: “I’ve never met Machine Gun Kelly. He seems like a fine person. I can’t imagine having rock beef with anyone, but if I had to choose, it would probably be Machine Gun Kelly.”
Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, releases Mainstream Sellout on 25 March.
