Machine Gun Kelly is back with the release of his new single “Cliché.” The artist, long known for moving between rap, punk, and pop, now shifts toward an electronic sound. The song, co-produced by longtime collaborators SlimXX, BazeXX, and Nick Long, presents a version of MGK that feels more open to texture and rhythm than drums and guitars, contrasting with the sound that defined Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout, the two albums that helped reposition MGK as a “pop-punk A-list.”

During a conversation with Billboard backstage at the 2025 American Music Awards, MGK spoke about how this single fits into the vision for his next album. While still in progress, the record is shaping up to be a study in contrasts. He acknowledged that over the past few years, both musically and personally, he has been reckoning with pressure from the public, the industry, and within himself. Still, he pointed out that the new chapter is about moving through that with a different kind of energy.

Some of that shift has already been hinted at in earlier releases with tracks like “Don’t Let Me Go,” a personal song that addresses mental health and grief, and “Lonely Road,” a collaboration with Jelly Roll that reimagines John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” signaled a growing interest in vulnerability and genre crossover. Those songs softened the edges of his sound, while “Cliché” now moves it somewhere altogether lighter and more fluid.

Over the past decade, Machine Gun Kelly has occupied many corners of the industry: as an underground rapper, a festival headliner, and as a regular tabloid name. When it comes to him, we never really know what’s next, but maybe that is the fun of it.