MGK has turned a bubblegum pop hit into an unexpected rap banger with his freestyle over *NSYNC’s 2000s classic, “Bye Bye Bye.”
Alongside producer/writer No Love on the keys, Kells manned the MPC as the pair repurposed a slow-downed version of the iconic hook, layering punchy drums and moody basslines beneath bars that tease his upcoming album.
“Don’t ask me no questions like what genre this album is/I’m Gordon Ramsey cheffin’ in this kitchen – no suggestions,” he raps. “What’s my mood? Look at mood boards, I’m a lot of artists’ reference/Got a lot of sons out here, I should have used a contraceptive.”
The Cleveland native has been dropping [semi] weekly freestyles and covers leading up to the new LP, which is rumored to be arriving some time this summer.
The album will follow 2022’s Mainstream Sellout, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
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As suggested by the nod, the album was a continuation of the pop/punk sound he’d pivoted toward during the pandemic. And while he found much success within the new space, in the three years since, MGK has revisited his rap roots and released a handful of Hip Hop singles, including 2023’s “Pressure.”
In May 2024, Kells said in an interview with Marvin magazine: “There is one part of my stomach that just cannot be filled by any other genre other than doing a great rap album.”
But months later, he revealed on his discord server that he’d scrapped every song he’d made in the last few years and was looking to create a whole new sound for the next LP.
“What happened with me was that I had a realization of the sound of this new album,” he said. “In the vein of world building, I can’t afford to just make songs without a firm planet home to belong to. [My 2019 rap album] Hotel Diablo is clearly like its own planet. [My 2020 pop/punk album] Tickets [To My Downfall] is its own planet.”
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He continued: [My 2022 pop/punk album] Mainstream [Sellout] is the other continent on the Tickets planet. This one I would like to be a new planet, right? I don’t want it to be another continent on the Hotel Diablo planet or another continent on Tickets planet. So this one has to be its own planet.”
While he hasn’t released a single yet, he did reveal on X on Thursday (May 8) that he was shooting the cover art for the effort – so the first song likely isn’t far off.
In the meantime, head to his Instagram to check out some of the other remixes he’s been doing – including a fusion of Juice WRLD‘s “Empty Out Your Pockets” with Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and a verse from his own song “LATELY.”
