Machine Gun Kelly covered Don Omar’s ‘Danza Kuduro’ and spoke Spanish to the crowd at Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival this week.
The pop-punk artist performed at day one of the Spanish festival on Thursday (July 6), where he surprised fans with a cover of the Puerto Rican reggaeton star’s 2010 hit.
“Spain, thank you so much for welcoming me to your country. I can feel all the love here today,” MGK told the crowd in Spanish.
“In return, I’d like to sing a song in your language with all of you. Let’s go!”
Captioning a clip of the moment on Instagram, he wrote “haters will say I switched genres again”, referencing his jump from rap to punk-rock for his latest two albums, ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ (2020) and ‘Mainstream Sellout’ (2022).
@machinegunkelly haters will say i switched genres again.
Omar himself appeared to approve, commenting a ‘rock on’ and flame emoji.
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NME‘s day one coverage of Mad Cool Festival reflected on MGK’s set in which he “stomped down from a burning setpiece to deliver a pop-punk run of hits that were just as fiery”.
At another recent festival, MGK fulfilled one of his fans’ most odd requests yet – being punched in the face.
While performing at Rock Werchter in Belgium, Kelly read a fan’s sign that said: “I just came from Mexico 4 u 2 punch me in the face”. The moment was filmed and posted onto Machine Gun Kelly’s Instagram page, jokingly captioned “making dreams come true”.
Back in 2020, MGK told NME about his switch to pop-punk and rock in his Big Read cover interview, explaining: “I watched the entire internet try to make a meme of me.”
“They were like: ‘Haha! Look at the guy on the table believing in himself! I’ve been the guy jumping up and down on the table believing in myself for-fucking-ever. I’m not up there tap dancing for some corporate label; I’m up there spreading my passion and my belief in the music I’m playing.”
He added: “Also, fuck you to any of the motherfuckers on the internet who tried to make a joke of what is now the Number one fucking album.”
Back in May, Machine Gun Kelly released a new single called ‘Pressure’, marking a return to a rap sound.
He gave the track its live debut last month at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where he was also joined onstage by Halsey and James Arthur.