YOUR FAVORITE MTV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

Machine Gun Kelly Describes How Mac Miller And Chester Bennington Influenced His New Album

The rapper also dropped a new song, 'I Think I'm OKAY,' featuring Yungblud and Travis Barker

Anticipation for Machine Gun Kelly's fourth album, Hotel Diablo, reached a fever pitch on Thursday (June 6) with the release of the rapper's latest single. On "I Think I'm OKAY" — yes, the last word is all-caps for dramatic effect — MGK joins forces with British rocker Yungblud, and the two make an intensely potent combination.

After trading verses in which they reflect on a vapid life fueled by booze and drugs, they come together for the brutally honest chorus: "Watch me, take a good thing and fuck it all up in one night / Catch me, I'm the one on the run away from the headlights," they sing/scream. "No sleep, up all week wasting time with people I don't like / I think that something's fucking wrong with me." Tying it all together is blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who lends his thunderous skills to the genre-bending track, before Yungblud closes it out with an a cappella finale.

After "I Think I'm OKAY" premiered on Beats 1, MGK talked up Hotel Diablo, describing it to host Zane Lowe as "the album I always wanted to put out." When Lowe asked if starring in the Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt made MGK want to reconnect with his more rock-influenced sound, the rapper said, "I think that did, and I think [Linkin Park frontman] Chester [Bennington] passing did that for me, too."

MGK also described the back-to-basics approach he's taking for the new album, explaining, "I got rid of all the bells and whistles on this project. It's all about being an artist more than a celebrity. ... This time around, the music's too good and I'm not doing anything but being myself. There's no added chains, there's no added statement jackets.

"You know who did a great job with this? Mac Miller," he continued. "When I looked at Mac, I just saw a talented young man. I didn't hate on the thing that he did. I was so impressed all the time, by his musicality, by his mental, by him as a friend. And that's the ultimate goal for me, is to walk around and have that respect and to not have all this extra stuff follow me. Because extra stuff and drama and alpha male hate has followed me for a long, long time."

Hotel Diablo — the follow-up to Machine Gun Kelly's 2017 album, Bloom — doesn't have a release date yet, but is expected sometime this year.

Latest News