MGK

mgk is a GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum recording artist who is an atomic force in music, entertainment, film and fashion. In 2020, the Cleveland, Ohio native eclipsed genre expectations releasing a Rock/Pop Punk album, the widely acclaimed Tickets to My Downfall. The platinum album topped the Billboard 200 and became his first No. 1 effort. Tickets to My Downfall landed 18 tracks on the Hot Rock Songs chart and spawned two No. 1 songs on the alternative side with “bloody valentine” and “my ex’s best friend,” which both went platinum. In 2022 he followed with mainstream sellout, his second album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 cementing his status as a chart-topping artist. The album was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Rock Album” and was supported with a sold-out stadium and arena North American and Europe tour. The US leg ended in his hometown of Cleveland at the FirstEnergy Stadium playing to 50,000 fans, making him the first and only Ohio native to sell out the stadium. As of 2022, mgk has had a record 45 entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, the most among any solo artist. For his contributions to music, he was named as one of 2022’s Time 100 Next, a list honoring the emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. The genre-bending icon has amassed numerous awards over his career including “US Artist About to Go Global” at the 2012 MTV EMA’s, MTV’s 2012 “Breaking Woodie” Award, 2013 “Woodie of the Year,” “Favorite Rock Artist” for the 2021 and 2022 AMAs, “Top Rock Album” and “Top Rock Artist” for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, 2020 and 2021 MTV VMA’s for “Best Alternative Video,” a 2021 iHeart Radio Award for “Alternative Rock Album of the Year” and 2022’s “Alternative Artist of the Year.” He’s appeared on Saturday Night Live, The Voice, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ellen, The Kelly Clarkson Show, BET’s 106 & Park, Good Morning America, The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and several other programs and award shows.

Shaboozey

An artist at the crossroads of country and hip-hop, Shaboozey creates the kind of songs that feel as epic as a movie: gripping, unpredictable, immense in scope but rooted in raw emotion. On his new album Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going, the Virginia-bred singer/songwriter charts a cinematic road trip through the wilds of the American West, bringing a powerful new depth to his storytelling while pushing further into the country/folk-inspired sound he’s explored in recent years. The latest turn in a dynamic career that began with the breakout success of his viral hit “Jeff Gordon”—and also includes such triumphs as appearing on the soundtrack to the Academy Award-winning blockbuster Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going is the most boldly realized work yet from a singular new voice on the music scene.

Born to parents of Nigerian descent and raised in the small town of Woodbridge, Shaboozey grew up on an eclectic mix of music encompassing everything from country icons like Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks to R&B and hip-hop (including fellow Virginia natives Pharrell, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott). Although his childhood dream was to become a novelist, he started experimenting with making music in high school and soon joined a collective of local artists—a turn of events that greatly expanded his creative horizons. “I learned how to produce, engineer, edit videos,” says Shaboozey, a multidimensional artist who takes a hands-on role in the visual component of his output. “Where I’m from, the only way it feels possible to make it in music is to try out for American Idol, but I always knew I needed to pursue it in a way that came from my own vision.” After scoring a viral hit with “Jeff Gordon” when he was just 18, Shaboozey relocated to Los Angeles and brought that vision to a series of projects echoing his kaleidoscopic influences (blues legend Lead Belly, folk poet Leonard Cohen, Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, to name a few), including his 2018 debut album Lady Wrangler. As his profile rose, he joined forces with L.A.-bred rapper/singer/songwriter DUCKWRTH for “Start a Riot” (a cut from the Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack), then inked a deal with EMPIRE and delivered his sophomore album Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die—a 2022 LP that artfully fused country and trap and showcased his soul-searching songwriting on hit singles like “Tall Boy.” 

Produced with his close collaborators Sean Cook and Nevin Sastry, Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going marks a major leap forward for Shaboozey, thanks in part to a deliberate shift in his creative process. “In the past I was getting a lot of beats and building up songs from there, but for this one we wrote all the music from scratch and tailored everything to the stories I wanted to tell,” he says. “I wanted to make something without any limitations, and elevate my songwriting so that you feel every line in your gut.” Deeply informed by his love for outlaw-country artists and indie-folk singer/songwriters like Gregory Alan Isakov—and by his recent experience in learning to play guitar— Shaboozey’s third full-length includes hits like “Let It Burn”: a heavy-hearted but triumphant track that shot to the top 10 on Spotify’s USA Viral 50 soon after its premiere in fall 2023. “To me ‘Let It Burn’ captures the whole theme of the album,” he says. “It’s about letting go of the things that have caused you pain in the past, and moving on to a better future.”

With its potent collision of rugged guitar work and rhythms that hit on a visceral level, Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going also spotlights Shaboozey’s sharply detailed storytelling and soulful vocals on tracks like “Annabelle”—a breakup song that brings bright but moody strumming to his unguarded outpouring of pain. “A friend of mine showed me that guitar part and it immediately felt like a heartbreak song,” he says. “I went into the studio and freestyled all those lyrics, which is something I really value about my background in hip-hop. It taught me to just let it flow and see where the song takes you.” And on “Vegas,” spaghetti-western guitar tones and hypnotic beats form the backdrop to a sing-along-ready reflection on risk and regret (from the chorus: “Treat my heart like a day-old paper/Ran me wild, drove me crazy/Old vibrations, familiar faces…Lived my life like it was one big Vegas”). “That song came from thinking about how love is often the reason we make certain moves, and how one of the biggest gambles I ever made with my life was packing up and leaving my hometown with someone I thought I loved,” he says. “There’s the type of people who win big and then take their earnings and head home, and then there’s the people who put it right back in and try to double it. And the latter is definitely more like my life story.”

Also featuring standouts like the brooding stomp-and-clap anthem “Last of My Kind,” Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going centers on lush and sweeping soundscapes that recall the wide-open space of Shaboozey’s hometown—a place that continues to shape his growth and journey as an artist. “From the beginning one of my biggest goals was to go out there and build a sound for Virginia, something people could really feel inspired by,” he says. “I want everyone to know that you can do what you want with your life no matter where you come from, and I hope my music compels people to get up and do something—dance, fall in love, whatever it is that makes them feel alive.” 

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