A bubblegum pop smash has been transformed into an unexpected rap hit by MGK, who freestyled over *NSYNC’s 2000s hit song “Bye Bye Bye.”
Kells manned the MPC alongside producer/writer No Love, who reworked a slow-downed version of the classic song, laying brooding basslines and punchy rhythms underneath bars that hint to his next album.
“I’m Gordon Ramsey cheffin’ in this kitchen – no suggestions – don’t ask me no questions like what genre this album is,” he raps. “How am I feeling? Look at mood boards. I should have used a contraceptive since I’m a lot of artists’ references and I have a lot of boys.
In anticipation of the new LP, which is expected to be released sometime this summer, the Cleveland native has been releasing [semi]weekly freestyles and covers.
The album will come after 2022’s Mainstream Sellout, which was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
The album continued the pop/punk sound he had shifted toward throughout the pandemic, as the nod implied. In the three years that have passed, MGK has returned to his rap roots and produced a few hip-hop singles, such as 2023’s “Pressure,” despite finding great success in the new setting.
“There is one part of my stomach that just cannot be filled by any other genre other than doing a great rap album,” Kells stated in an interview with Marvin magazine in May 2024.
However, months later, he disclosed on his Discord account that he had thrown out all of the songs he had written in the previous several years and was trying to come up with a completely different sound for the upcoming album.
He explained, “What happened to me was that I realized how this new album seemed.” In keeping with world-building, I can’t afford to simply write songs without a solid planet to call home. Hotel Diablo [my 2019 rap album] is obviously a world unto itself. Tickets [To My Downfall], my pop/punk record from 2020, is a world unto itself.
“Mainstream [Sellout] is the other continent on the Tickets planet,” he added, referring to his 2022 pop/punk record. I want this one to be a new planet, don’t you think? Neither another continent on the Hotel Diablo planet nor another continent on the Tickets planet is what I want. This one must thus be a separate planet.
The first song is probably not far off, even though he hasn’t released a single yet. On Thursday, May 8, he revealed on X that he was working on the cover art for the project.
Check out some of his other remixes on his Instagram in the interim, such as a mix of Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and Juice WRLD’s “Empty Out Your Pockets,” as well as a verse from his own song “LATELY.”
