Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) is sharpening his edge again — and this time, he’s doing it under moonlight.
The GRAMMY-nominated artist just dropped “Vampire Diaries,” a brooding, guitar-laced single from his upcoming sixth studio album Lost Americana, due out August 8. Produced by blink-182’s Travis Barker, the track marks a return to MGK’s rock-forward sound but adds a moodier, cinematic layer. Think Tickets to My Downfall with darker eyeliner.
The video, directed by longtime visual collaborator Sam Cahill, feels like Night at the Museum on psychedelics. MGK wanders through a surreal gallery after hours, dancing with shadows, art, and maybe a few of his personal ghosts. Choreographer Sean Bankhead — whose slick, unhinged work on “Cliché” brought MGK into full pop performance mode — returns to build on that kinetic energy.
“Vampire Diaries” follows the high-energy “Cliché,” which MGK recently revisited in a stripped-down “sad version,” showing his range in real time. While the title may call up images of CW melodrama, the single instead taps into themes of emotional hunger, nighttime longing, and romantic decay. It’s more The Crow than Twilight — jagged and theatrical, without irony.
With Lost Americana, MGK appears to be diving headfirst into contradiction: vulnerability wrapped in punk chaos, radio polish mixed with basement grit. It’s his first full-length since Mainstream Sellout — the album that cemented his transition from rapper to genre-disrupting rocker and earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Album.
Cleveland fans will have plenty to celebrate: the annual MGK Day returns August 8–10 with three days of music, art, and community events honoring the artist’s Ohio roots. As he gears up to drop what could be his most thematically cohesive record to date, “Vampire Diaries” is a promise that Lost Americana might not just bite. It could bleed.
