“The media has no idea what to make of me, and you know what? I hope they never do,” mgk confessed to a crowd in Brooklyn, NY on December 13th, 2025. “I [am] here to disrupt the game because I am different. I’m looking at 12,000 people asking you to also be different. Don’t ever be a replica of something else. And even you being here tonight, against what the internet would say about mgk, you are different because you have the [courage] to like what it is that you wanna like.”
In a single, short speech before performing ‘wwiii’ to that crowd, Colson Baker was able to summarize exactly what has made his current chapter such a meaningful journey for his fans, EST (short for “everyone stands together”). Those fans who didn’t buy into the narrative, but instead watched as mgk continued to carve out his own.
2025 brought the release of his critically – and criminally – misunderstood lost americana album, a celebration of the fifth anniversary for Tickets To My Downfall, and so much more fun music and content that kept us hooked all year long. And while we didn’t secure that GRAMMY nomination or a #1 Billboard 200 album, it’s certain that we “didn’t need no help for a hell of a time.”
Join us as we take a look back at some special moments of mgk’s standout 2025!
Dingo Forever
mgk’s 2025 unfortunately came with a very difficult start, including the news that his favorite recording studio burned down in the Los Angeles wildfires in January shortly after leaving rehab, as well as the loss of one of his best friends, Luke “Dingo” Trembath. He described him in a tribute post on Instagram as, “a true rockstar without ever needing to make a song, the most loyal, loud, charismatic, funny, and annoying human [he’s] ever had the honor of knowing.”
After Dingo’s passing, Kells brought some of their friends together for a stunning musical tribute in the form of ‘your name forever.’ He wrote the song with his bandmates and soul brothers Slim, Baze, Rook, and No Love For The Middle Child, along with phem, Dark Waves, Emma Rosen, and Beauty School Dropout’s Colie Hutzler. Add in some backing vocals from Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows, Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, and MOD SUN, then lead guitar from A7X’s Synyster Gates, and you have a moving celebration of Dingo’s legacy and the memories he made with such a creative, impactful group of people.
“Tell me, did you know it was time to say goodbye?
Tell me, did the heavens align where angels fly?
What happened, what happened when you kissed the sky?”
A New Saga (Blade) Begins
But luckily, we also got some pretty amazing news in the first quarter of the year! mgk and Megan Fox welcomed their first daughter together, Saga Blade Fox-Baker, who might be in the running for the most bad*ss baby name of all time. We’re so excited for their family and know Saga will grow up surrounded by so much love!
Her journey, the five years of her culmination of coming, disappearing, coming back again, disappearing, coming back again, she’s an epic story and that’s what Saga means. I’m also of Norwegian heritage, and so that’s a Nordic goddess of storytelling, and I think she has a storytelling future ahead of her.
mgk on The TODAY Show
EST knows how much mgk’s oldest daughter, Casie, means to him, so getting to see him welcome another daughter into the world while sober and focusing on his healing has been nothing short of magical.
Creating The lost americana Album
As we mentioned earlier, mgk’s favorite recording studio burned down during the Los Angeles wildfires, so he had to get a little crafty while making his seventh studio album. He spent some time away with Casie and wound up embarking on a creative reset, restarting the project from the ground up and setting up a home studio with his best friends and band.
I knew for sure that the music I had made for whatever the album was supposed to be the last two years, I couldn’t stand. So I erased all of it, kept my palms up, and I felt like the Akashic records just sent me some downloads, and I started making lost americana. The exploration was, ‘we are not gonna pick any genre, we are going to make this freely.’
mgk on Popcast
We also learned during Kells’ Popcast interview that he was debating whether to delete the album he had already made when he got the news that Bob Dylan had posted an old performance of his on Instagram! Colson called it a “d-side mgk video from the 17th page of [his] YouTube channel,” yet OGs have had that Park Ave CDs performance in their rotation this whole time. Call it kismet or the coolest coincidence, but that repost was like a sign that he was making the right choice! Bob went on to narrate the album trailer for lost americana.
He announced that he finished the album we now know as lost americana on April 17th, shaving the beard he accrued during the creation process. We think this was a symbol for the renewal and evolution he explores on the album, with the shave representing that he’s letting parts of his past and the stories he tells on the record go.
With a new outlook on life, a new addition to the family, and a new album ready to unleash to the world, it was time for a celebration! Kells celebrated his birthday on April 22nd with a lost americana-themed party that had EST squinting our eyes at every single post trying to find Easter eggs. We didn’t know the album title at the time, but his Lost XX t-shirt and sign, along with a cigarette-themed cake, gave us some big hints of what to expect.
High-profile party guests included Young Thug, Jelly Roll, MOD SUN, Rook, Slim, Baze, and of course Casie.
Special YouTube & Standalone Releases
Towards the end of the creation of lost americana and afterwards, mgk gave us quite a few surprises on his YouTube channel! April and May both brought new covers and even a freestyle that reimagined a total classic we know you know. First up was a medley of Juice WRLD’s ‘Empty Out Your Pockets,’ Green Day’s ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams,’ and Kells’ own ‘LATELY’ that blew us away. During the ‘LATELY’ section, he swapped out “Grew up a screw-up, pierced my ear and dyed my f*cking hair” for “Grew up a weirdo, 20 piercings and some bleached hair.” The new version acknowledges his growth and offers more compassion for his past self, refusing to call himself a “screw-up” and instead just noting that he was different from the people around him.
Next was a cover of Ryan Adams’ ‘Come Pick Me Up,’ including most of his touring band and MOD SUN! He posted it on his birthday as a gift to EST. According to a fan on Reddit, Ryan once said he didn’t enjoy playing it live anymore because it went against his sobriety and focused on a feeling of hopelessness that he no longer related to. Now that Kells is sober, we hope that he can feel more optimistic for his future, because we know it’s very bright.
The next two releases were recorded after mgk finished lost americana, since his facial hair from the recording process was gone! He and No Love came together to produce an awesome freestyle over *NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ (full-circle moment, as the boy band lover he is) that teased what we could expect from his then-upcoming album and its lead single.
“Don’t ask me no questions, like what genre this album is
I’m Gordon Ramsay cheffin’ in this kitchen, no suggestions…”
“I’m sober now, but the next single gon’ pop like pills
Come out singing like I’m Justin Bieber…”
The last standalone release in this series was a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls’ timeless track ‘Iris,’ featuring the incredible Julia Wolf! Julia wound up being the opener for the 2025 U.S. leg of the lost americana Tour, so EST fam who attended got to hear this one live. We were lucky enough to, and, yes, it’ll give you twice as many goosebumps in an arena as it does at home! Their voices blend so beautifully together and add a nice edge to the song.
And with that, EST was officially activated for Kells to properly kick off his new era…
Sounds ‘cliché,’ But It’s Iconic
The lost americana era started with a bang when mgk dropped the lead single, ‘cliché,’ in May! In the process, he delivered the summer pop bop we were waiting for, complete with a fun, choreographed music video that would put even your favorite ‘90s boyband to shame. The song purposely strings together cliché ideas of romance to make something you can’t help but dance along to.
“Tell me, would you wait for me?
Baby, I’m a rolling stone
I got a lot of right in me, but I don’t wanna say this wrong…”
And EST weren’t the only ones who ate ‘cliché’ up – Spotify made Colson the cover of their New Music Friday playlist for the first time, the number of streams made it his biggest solo Spotify debut ever, and he got to perform it at shows like The TODAY Show and the Kids’ Choice Awards. We had soooo much fun and things were only just kicking off for us!
Tracklist Reveals & Chaos On Twitch
Some of the best memories we made with mgk this year were definitely when he started streaming on Twitch! He went live to unveil the lost americana tracklist, show us new merch designs, and even play some Fortnite. Every stream he did was such a blast and we’re patiently waiting to bond with EST in the chat on the next one!
Finding lost americana & Landing The Three-Peat
On August 8th, chosen for the synergy of 8/8, mgk officially unveiled his seventh studio album! We could go on about lost americana all day (and we have, so check out our full review), but we’ll “keep it short like a haiku” for now and focus on the wider themes and takeaways from the project.
lost americana is one of Kells’ rawest projects to date, exploring mental health, fame, the state of society, and identity through the lens of a man who has never been more himself. As he told Popcast, “There’s no beguiling on this album. This album is not a character.” This is mgk, Machine Gun Kelly, El Pistolero, and Colson Baker in his purest, most distilled form, and every moment of it is an absolute gift.
lost americana is the ultimate homecoming as mgk starts to trust his inner voice and integrate each aspect of himself into a fully realized identity, all while harnessing his musical talent across genres and avenues. He’s come home to himself and is proudly hanging postcards from each of his detours on his wall to remind him of everything he’s learned along the way.
lost americana is a personal excavation of the American dream. A journey to find what’s been lost. This album is a love letter to those who seek to rediscover. The dreamers, the drifters, the defiant. It’s a sonic map of forgotten places, a tribute to the spirit of reinvention, and a quest to reclaim the authentic essence of American freedom. From the glow of neon diners to the rumble of the motorcycles, this is music that celebrates the beauty found in the in-between spaces where the past is reimagined and the future is forged on your own terms.
Bob Dylan in the lost americana album trailer
Along the way, mgk makes fun references to American music icons – for example, the ‘sweet coraline’ title parodies Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline,’ while ‘starman’ nods to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Californication’ and interpolates Third Eye Blind’s ‘Semi-Charmed Kinda Life.’ This pattern cleverly brings you to place him in that lexicon of music legends on a psychological level, in case you didn’t already think of him as a legend in his own right. He’s ready to prove he’s worthy of going down in music history and can add his own flair to things we already love.
As he’s become more successful, Kells has been able to travel the world and perform in some of the most incredible cities. Hometown references throughout the album become a symbol for our purest selves and his past as he faces it, leading the listener to wonder, how much do you owe to who you used to be? How much do you owe to the situations that shaped you? What happens when you want to change? Do you bring your past with you, or does that stifle who you’re becoming?
To understand mgk’s music and the creativity behind it, you need to be willing to sit with it and go beyond the surface of what you assume or expect. Some will shrug aside the meaning of his work and say it’s shallow or unoriginal, while others will tell you he’s an artistic mastermind who purposefully plays into and subverts expectations. No matter which end of that spectrum you consider yourself to be on, there’s something to be said for taking things slow and really processing what you’re hearing in a time when we can listen to seconds-long snippets of songs or loud opinions on why those songs suck in the span of a few scrolls.
Despite the many loud opinions that talk down on mgk, the numbers stand to prove that he moves tons of people with his work. lost americana debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but managed to top the Rock & Alternative album chart, cementing the “three-peat” Kells wanted – 2020’s Tickets To My Downfall and 2022’s mainstream sellout debuted at #1 on both charts. 40,500 of his 63,000 album units were from pure sales, which means it was the best pure-selling album of that week and debuted at #1 on the Top Album Sales chart, just like his past two albums did. Nothing to sneeze at in the streaming era!
Showing Out For MGK Day
The fourth annual celebration of MGK Day took over downtown Cleveland for a weekend of fun events and activities, all while donating proceeds to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Shoes & Clothes For Kids to give back. Some standout moments on the schedule included XXcon (a mini convention and performance where mgk announced his Floor 13 record label), a pop-up at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, and the Art & Community festival, which included a fireworks show!
And in the ultimate show of fate, the dates lined up with the release date of lost americana, starting on its release date of August 8th and continued through that weekend. He captured some of the magic in a music video for ‘tell me whats up.’
The timing of MGK Day is, ironically, what some fans think prevented lost americana from reaching a #1 debut on the Billboard 200, since so many superfans were at events over the weekend instead of streaming. But isn’t that what finding americana is truly about? Returning to a time of unity, togetherness, and hope? Perhaps such a pure americana never existed in the first place, but thanks to the power of music and passionate artists like mgk, we’re closer than ever to creating it.
The CoolEST Road Trip Ever
As if the man hadn’t given us enough already, the week after MGK Day saw him and the band traveling across four states for a special mini-tour called the Lost XX Road Trip! Fans in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota got to be some of the first to hear lost americana songs live… some even on a roof. Someone give Reed a raise to make up for the stress he probably felt that night!
Heading Back To Warped Tour
mgk was an underrated staple back in the prime days of Warped Tour, and he got to head back to the main stage at two of this year’s festival days! Both nights, he took the crowd on a genre-bending adventure surrounded by a graffiti-laced set celebrating his Tickets To My Downfall album’s fifth anniversary – more on that milestone shortly. He first took the stage in Washington, D.C. before dropping lost americana, and his appearance in Orlando, FL happened after the album release, so he was able to show off two different setlists and integrate some new music for the second crowd!
A Style Icon Getting Recognition
If you’re anything like us, then your Pinterest homepage is flooded with mgk fashion inspo any time you log on. So you already know we were absolutely stoked to find out he got a Style Icon Award from Daily Front Row’s Fashion Media Awards during New York Fashion Week! It made it even more special to know his bestie Pete Davidson was the one to present him with the award, and Casie was in the audience to support him.
I think that my style can be unconventional to some… I am completely unapologetic with my authenticity in what I sing and what I wear.
mgk at the Fashion Media Awards
His status as a fashion icon also brought about some of the coolest memorabilia collabs that mgk has done in his career! He celebrated the release of lost americana with special merch capsules in partnership with Harley Davidson and Ed Hardy, as well as releasing his first fragrance with Dossier. So not only does he express his own unforgettable style, but he wants to make sure EST can dress and smell as nicely as him. What a king!
That’s Professor mgk To You
mgk is smarter and more strategic than most of the internet gives him credit for – including his music, 27 Club Coffee shop, and investments in companies like Liquid Death – and his business savvy culminated in an invite to speak at Harvard Business School this fall! A student who attended his guest lecture told Boston that one of the topics was how he deals with online hate, sharing:
He said, ‘I just had to employ the mentality that I simply can’t care about this if I want to be in this industry. I’m doing this because I love what I do, and I love the artistic part of my job.’ And then the second piece he said that I think was a little bit easier to take something from, was that you’re always going to have the loud minority and the silent majority. What he kind of meant by that was how many times do you go online to your favorite artist and write on their Instagram ‘Oh my gosh, you’re my favorite artist. This is an awesome post.’ Hardly ever. Because the people who are gonna comment are the ones who are gonna have something negative to say.
Harvard Business School student Peter Kiesel
Our All Access Pass To The World Of Tickets To My Downfall
One of the biggest things that made 2025 special for mgk was that it marked the fifth anniversary of his iconic Tickets To My Downfall album! He knows that EST lovessss a good album anniversary celebration, especially after last year’s Hotel Diablo re-release and fan Q&A, so he had a special treat up his sleeve for this one.
Tickets To My Downfall (All Access) expanded his pop-punk masterpiece with five new tracks: ‘no cellphones in rehab,’ ‘home bittersweet home,’ ‘i tried again,’ ‘me or you,’ and ‘secrets.’ And being the generous king he is, he gave us DIY videos for each one, along with adding ‘love race’ with Kellin Quinn to the tracklist. We didn’t think Tickets could get any better, but somehow it did!
Taking Over North America With The lost americana Tour
With two albums to celebrate, it was time for Kells and the band to hit the road for the lost americana Tour! They prepared an epic, changing setlist with over 30 songs, complete with pyrotechnics, a giant Statue Of Liberty onstage, a descending guitar (unless you were in Brooklyn, where it got stuck mid-air), and support from the amazing Julia Wolf.
Anyone lucky enough to catch the 2025 tour dates got a special anniversary performance of the Tickets To My Downfall album, including every single song on the main record. And anyone lucky enough to be in Rosemont, IL are definitely the universe’s favorite people, because they even got a special performance of ‘forget me too’ with Halsey! But no matter which show you attended, you could feel how much mgk and his touring family love what they do.
Speaking of the touring family, we want to thank his amazing band for not only bringing our favorite mgk songs to life, but also being superstars in their own right! Slim delivers so much energy and makes sure everyone is having a good time, especially when he comes out on the XX runway for ‘ay!’ and ‘Wild Boy.’ Baze’s basslines blend all the sounds together and give such a stunning lifeline to each performance. No Love is a fantastic addition to the band for this run and wears so many hats throughout the show, tackling each one with ease. Sophie is a guitar powerhouse and her excited smiles are so infectious. Jus is another guitar mastermind who never ceases to amaze us, especially when he plays on the runway with his guitar behind his head. Finally, Rook constantly inspires us with his persistence and dedication to his drumming craft.
And of course, thank you to Sam for capturing so many memories for EST through his photography, and Reed for making sure Kells stays safe throughout the night!
More Collabs For Our Collection
Even though lost americana doesn’t technically include any features (phem and MOD SUN appear on ‘indigo’ and ‘treading water,’ respectively, without a feature credit), we did get some official features and collabs from mgk throughout the year! Of course, we started with the Julia Wolf-assisted ‘iris’ as Kells dropped some songs ahead of lost americana.
His next collab of the year was ‘WHO I WAS,’ a thoughtful appearance on an NF track that brings up alllllll the feels possible. Fans begged these two to work together for years and it was so worth the wait! Like the lost americana album, ‘WHO I WAS’ explores evolution and the hard lessons we face to meet our truest selves. Colson uses his verse to reflect on his biggest losses, mistakes that shaped his life, his relationship with religion, and more. He really poured so much of himself into this beautiful track!
“I’ll follow my heart but my heart is scattered
Like my father’s ashes in the back of the rental after I dropped his urn
Probably a metaphor for everything I’ve learned…”
Remember that scene of Hannah Montana when Miley spots the Jonas Brothers for the first time and yells, “Sweet mama, it’s the Jonas Brothers?” That was our reflexive reaction when we found out they were hopping on an energetic remix of ‘cliché’ after mgk made a surprise guest appearance at the band’s Vancouver, CA show. Having one of THE boy bands of all time join him on a song drawing from the golden boy band era is so meta and we can’t get enough!
Finally, we had one last gift from Kells this year when he appeared on King Chip’s ‘FAT RAPS 4,’ which dropped on Christmas. He’s known Chip since the two of them were growing up in Cleveland, so ‘FAT RAPS 4’ serves as a fun reunion that lets both of them celebrate their success and rap skills!
Taking A ‘Lunch Break’ With Lyrical Lemonade
Between shows on the lost americana Tour, mgk stopped by Lyrical Lemonade for a freestyle that truly feels like a victory lap. Like his verse on ‘WHO I WAS,’ the ‘Lunch Break’ freestyle draws from all sorts of experiences he’s gone through and how they’ve shaped him to become his strongest self. Meanwhile, his band and closest friends hype him up in the back, showcasing that he’s never alone in the things he faces.
And some very important details: the lunch he got in the studio included Prince Street pizza, Caesar salad, cheesecake, calamari, bruschetta, and pasta with Bolognese sauce. One word, three letters, Y-U-M.
“Never let anyone’s opinion block your intuition
You gotta stay driven on this impossible mission
You gotta make sure that a sequel coming after this one
The meek will inherit the earth, good riddance
Everybody equal, but some of us built different…”
A Whole Lot Of Personal Growth
Above all, the most magical part of being EST this year is seeing how much mgk has evolved and been able to create his own peace and stability. He knows with how much negative media attention he gets that the public would chew him up for the mistakes and missteps he describes on lost americana songs like ‘treading water.’ But what matters to him is coming clean for accountability and to express how he genuinely wants to fix things, for the people he hurt and also to get closer to his ideal self.
Growth is never easy and we could only imagine what it’s like to try to improve yourself and your mindset as the whole world is watching. Kells is ready to take true responsibility for himself and his evolution no matter what it takes or what anyone thinks about it. We’re so proud of him for improving his mindset and refusing to let his struggles define him!
He shared at his lost americana Tour show in Brooklyn, NY, “I never wanna undo the progress that I’ve been making with my life… I spent so many years of people misinterpreting the human that I am, the soul that I am. And my soul is pure, but it’s covered by an exoskeleton that’s been broken by the outside world. I refuse to let the outside world break me anymore, and I’m standing here in front of you as a changed man, as someone who is embracing the light, and the love, and all of this high-frequency beauty that’s been happening around me.”
What were your favorite memories with mgk this year? Did you get to see him and the band live at the lost americana Tour, Warped Tour, or one of their one-off performances? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! You can also buzz on over to our Reddit community to chat with us.
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