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I’m catching MGK in a happy place. You wouldn’t know it from his expression, which is dour and serious, or from the tones of black he’s in today—black bandana tied low on his brow, a black Henley open at his neck, the edge of his enveloping blackout body tattoo visible at his neck—but this is a guy riding a professional high. His bristling, ideas-packed seventh album, Lost Americana, has been buoyed along by the pop-inflected singles “Cliché,” “Vampire Diaries,” and “Miss Sunshine,” and by videos that show MGK, real name Colson Baker, 35, dancing, goofing around, and shedding any pretense of studied seriousness or cool.
This is just another shift in a career full of transformations—in sound, look—that have marked MGK, formerly Machine Gun Kelly, as a dramatically mutable star, and invited charges of inauthenticity. Is he a rapper (the genre he broke out in), a pop-punk savant (see his albums Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout), an emo sadboy, or an American rock nostalgist? The truth is he’s all of these things, and keen to keep flouting expectations. For instance: MGK is also now a fragrance entrepreneur, the face of a genderless scent collaboration with Dossier called Lost Americana.
I spoke to him about why scent was the first thing he spent real money on (Tom Ford cologne, “$350”), and a whole lot more—astrology, thrifting, dinosaurs—as he was being driven through LA en route to a performance rehearsal. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Vogue: I’m so struck by this new lightness and sense of fun in your recent singles and videos.
MGK: Well, look: I think the state of the world is really drab. And with the trajectory of how my life started, and then where it went—climbing up and then crashing down, constant ebbs and flows—I have every right to match the drabness of the world. But I don’t like being predictable, or a stereotype. I wanted to create an art piece or, like, a mosaic of art pieces—the music videos—that would make people react, and react with surprise. I just think sad boy, broken boy…it’s all too obvious and it’s too easy.
The dancing in particular–it’s infectious and puts you in a good mood. Did you have fun making those videos?
Yeah, I realized my job is fun. And I realized that death is always lurking and I don’t wanna have flashbacks and see a bunch of gray. I wanna see colors. Joy is such a slept-on emotion. It’s almost like you’re shamed for it, because everyone’s so serious and so critical…it’s like people forgot their sense of the most innocent point in a person’s life. It’s actually sad that we forced the dogma of growing up on people, ’cause innocence and imagination are what leads to joy. And when you are so stuck trying to conform to societal norms, you lose your imagination. That comes from being 100% comfortable in yourself.
Can you tell me about the “Vampire Diaries” video in particular?
It was inspired by Christopher Walken in that Fatboy Slim video. I was like, I want to go dance around a bunch of dinosaurs in New York’s Natural History Museum. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I could name all of ’em, and I wanted to be a paleontologist for a brief moment of time. I also believed that I was a pterodactyl for a moment of time. So that video ended up being something that when I’m, you know, 60, I might find and be like, Whoa. That’s…that’s pure.
You dance really well. Where did the dancing come from?
Dancing is a way of connecting with the universe’s soul. You’re embracing the frequencies around you and moving your body to them. That’s why so many, you know, native tribes incorporate dance. That’s why so many communities, when they’re down and depressed, they dance. Honestly, dude, I’m down and depressed a lot, so I just became comfortable expressing myself…. The answer is I’m just unhinged. And that’s where I’m most comfortable—just being unapologetically myself. It’s like when I came to your party [the Vogue October issue release party] and I was wearing a $14 shirt that we thrifted from, what is that place called, Fine and Dandy? I ran into Baz [Luhrmann, cohost of the party] at a function, and I said, “What’s the dress code for your thing on Sunday?” And he was like, “Oh, it’s country western.” And I was like, that’s a little out of my realm right there. But I put on some Margiela pants and found this thrifted shirt that literally had the word Tex-Mex on the tag. There’s a way to, you know, bring the imagination and the unhinged—and match the class.
Let’s talk about the fragrance you’re launching with Dossier.
A huge part of my lore has always been how I smell. In my fan base, it’s a very talked-about thing that…I mean…dude, I don’t know how to say this without sounding douchey. Fun fact: People ask me, “What is the first big purchase you made after you got some money?” It was a $350 bottle of cologne.
Seriously?
I believe it was Tom Ford. For some people it’s cars, a house, or other stuff. My thing was cologne. When you come from being broke, you’re in the mentality of being so scared of going broke again. So that’s kind of why so many artists are obsessive with hustling, with always being on the road or always being in the studio. And so that mindset also came with my spending. I was like: What’s a way that I can show wealth without actually having to buy a bunch of stuff? I found I wanted to smell good. This will show people that I, like, graduated a level. That’s the same reason why I like having nice nails, or why I like wearing certain clothes. I like a good compliment. The art of a compliment has never gotten old to me. I like giving them as well. The smell thing became natural because it’s almost like alchemy, like just taking a bunch of different elements and creating, quote unquote, magic.
Were you confident about saying, like, more of this, less of that? Did you have set ideas about what you wanted your fragrance to smell like?
Absolutely. But also I think, going, “Oh, this has to smell exactly like me”—that’s like taking Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” or something and being like, We need to make a song exactly like this. You’re not gonna get that. You have to cook your own meal. You have to make your own song. So I love this element of, like: desert, nighttime, cigarettes. I love the roundness of almonds—when you extract almonds, the way that smells. I love the myrrh for its spiritual importance. Pink pepper to give a little bit of a bite. The fragrance is also something that smells good when you mix it—like when you smoke a cigarette and it’s on your clothes and you have your own fragrance, and it all comes off a certain way…. That’s a long-winded way of saying like, I like the way it smells.
Was doing a genderless fragrance important to you?
Genderless is important with everything to me, from music to fashion to fragrance. It’s also just punk rock to go against an archaic system. This is supposed to be that, that’s supposed to be this… as soon as people put rules on me, I don’t like it. As soon as someone tells me, a man is supposed to wear this or a woman is supposed to wear that, it makes me want to just do the complete opposite.
You mentioned your Margiela pants. Is there anything else in fashion you’re switched on to right now?
I would definitely like some credit for bringing corded headphones into mainstream fashion, because I’ve been doing that for a couple years now. Like, the “Cliché” video started off with everyone being like, “Why are you wearing those?” I like the idea of going places and being able to make a statement, like, I’m in my own vibe. There’s a mystery to it. Like, are you listening to anything? What are you listening to?
And your hair is longer. It’s softer and curlier. I’m wondering if it requires a little upkeep?
You know what happened? Taurus is ruled by Venus, and my sun sign is a Taurus. Venus deals a lot with beauty. So when you respect the element of beauty about yourself, the universe rewards you for respecting that aspect of yourself. Each zodiac sign has planets that rule their identity. So when you respect the planets that have such a big influence on your identity, you’re rewarded for it. I started kind of respecting my upkeep, and I’ve watched things open up.
One more question. It’s the five-year anniversary of your album Tickets to My Downfall, which has now gone double platinum. Can you talk about what that record meant to you?
That was a stars-aligned album. It reminded me, actually of when Wiz [Khalifa] did “Black and Yellow” and that year the Steelers won the Super Bowl. I knew Wiz back in mixtape days, when we were playing 200-people venues, and to watch this moment happen for him, where everything was perfect: that’s how I kind of felt with Tickets to My Downfall. Even just the way that it affected people my age, people older, people younger, and how maybe it’ll be something that continues to reach new audiences and new generations over and over again. It gives me a confidence—where I can feel comfortable making more experimental art. It makes me really happy.
