Hear Machine Gun Kelly give “Bloody Valentine” an acoustic spin
Machine Gun Kelly kicked off the Tickets To My Downfall era last month with “Bloody Valentine.” The single marks the first official release off of his upcoming pop-punk album produced by blink-182’s Travis Barker.
Barker joined MGK on The Late Late Show With James Corden to give the track its live debut (and discuss the proper way to say blink-182), and now we’re getting an acoustic rendition of the track.
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Shortly after the song debuted atop the rock chart, MGK dropped a behind-the-scenes look at production. In it, he’s joined by longtime friend collaborator Mod Sun who helped co-write it. The duo work through the chorus and reveal how they landed on “bloody valentine” over other options that were tossed around.
MGK followed up the BTS footage by recruiting Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body, Transformers) for the cinematic music video where the actress literally takes over his life and does her best rock star impression. The duo met filming an upcoming movie together, Midnight In The Switchgrass, which focuses on the infamous Truck Stop Killer and also stars Bruce Willis.
Last month, Ryan Scott Graham of State Champs and Speak Low If You Speak Love covered MGK’s anthemic new track on an acoustic guitar, but now we’re hearing it from the musician himself—yead and all.
MGK surprise dropped the take Monday night. He followed up the announcement Tuesday morning by revealing how natural the song came together with Barker.
“@travisbarker aren’t you glad we recorded drums to 15 versions of the acoustic just to end up using the one of you hitting ur knuckles on the guitar,” MGK tweeted.
Originally expected in early 2020, MGK revealed to Zane Lowe that Tickets To My Downfall is more of a summer album and is expected to drop soon.
Take a listen to “Bloody Valentine” acoustic here or below.
More on Machine Gun Kelly and Tickets To My Downfall
MGK first teased production on his pop-punk album back in December. He has blended genres throughout his career, but the world took note with the Barker and YUNGBLUD collab “I Think I’m OKAY” off his latest Hotel Diablo. The TikTok favorite turned gold single paved the way to fully embrace his pop-punk influences on the forthcoming full-length.
Just a few months after dropping his incredibly raw fourth full-length Hotel Diablo, Machine Gun Kelly unleashed rock-fueled “why are you here.” Soon after, he opened up more on the then untitled pop-punk project, revealing that along with Barker, he was working with other past collaborators YUNGBLUD, blackbear, Trippie Redd and Young Thug.
Kells also revealed Attila’s Fronz and the Used’s Bert McCracken were on his collab wish list, the latter of whom he secured in January. In addition to the impressive roster backing him, MGK credits “why are you here” for inspiring him to go down this road of “all singing [and] all live instruments” in the first place.
Revealing the album name in mid-January, MGK followed it by adding another album-related tattoo and teasing what to expect. Wrapping up in the studio around late February, he performed a new song believed to be from the album during a livestream while the world is on lockdown.
MGK and Barker recruited YUNGBLUD to help them on yet another track, which the rapper teased in early March. While it’s unclear if this is the same track, MGK later opened up on how Juice WRLD inspired “Body Bag.”
Juice WRLD wasn’t the only musician to impact the Warped Tour alum as he shared a scene staple-filled inspiration playlist. Some of the selections in his collection include hits from the likes of Taking Back Sunday, Lagwagon, Yellowcard and the Killers. You can see the full playlist here.
What do you think of Machine Gun Kelly’s acoustic take on “Bloody Valentine”? Let us know in the comments below.
