Mk.gee was one of biggest break-out guitar artists of 2024, and now the boundary-pushing musician has returned with a surprise new collaboration: a guest spot and production credit on the new Justin Bieber album.
Last year, Mk.gee became one of the most talked-about new artists when his wholly unique approach to electric guitar playing and tone – characterized by a retro-futuristic lo-fi flair, soft psychedelia and experimental indie, and headed up by an oddball baritone Jaguar and old-school analog gear – exploded onto the scene.
His debut, Two Star & the Dream Police, was one of 2024’s most popular guitar albums. Not only that, Mk.gee’s unique sound was being championed by all corners of the music world, with none other than Eric Clapton calling him his favorite new guitar player, likening him to Prince.
The influence of Mk.gee’s music spanned far beyond the guitar world and found huge commercial and popular appeal, with his blending of pop sensibilities with guitar hero chops proving to put the instrument on the radar of an all-new diverse audience.
Now, Mk.gee has further demonstrated the appeal of his guitar playing by picking up a credit on SWAG – the seventh album from pop megastar, Justin Bieber, which is absolutely oozing with a Two Star…-inspired style.
The album, which was surprise-released last week, also featured Mk.gee’s longtime collaborator Dijon, who handled most of the production work, and as such it’s probably not a shock to hear the creative direction of the record seems to be so heavily informed by the lo-fi dream pop pioneered by Mk.gee.
This observation is particularly applicable to DAISIES – the only track on the record that Mk.gee produced, and the song that boasts his unmistakable playing.
The slappy phrases, the squishy low-register tone, the harmonic strums, the aggressively dynamic fingerstyle technique… It’s a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on Two Star, nor would it have stuck out on its eventual followup.
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But it didn’t end up on any of those things. It was released by quite possibly the biggest male pop star of his generation. If that doesn’t speak volumes of Mk.gee’s appeal, or highlight just how incredibly influential his fresh take on guitar playing and tone truly is, we’re not sure what does.
The pair had first teased their collaboration back in September last year, when Mk.Gee said of working with Bieber (via The New York Times), “Anything that comes out of his mouth: that’s pop music. You can really do pretty wild stuff behind that, just because it represents something.”
In his praise of Mk.gee, Clapton had said, “Mk.gee kinda sits in a bit of a pop category for me. Right. But it’s unique. And he has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else.
“My daughter turned me on [to Mk.gee] today, and I trust her taste. And not only that, we’re [referring to the guitar scene and the music industry] safe. The same when I first saw Prince, it was like we’re safe. Just to know it’s there [artists like Mk.gee] is enough.”
