mgk got the Semi-Charmed Life sample cleared after facing the National Guard: "It was hard"

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On August 5, 2025, mgk did a surprise show at Cellar Dog in New York City. mgk wrote on his IG story a few days ago that he will do a couple of small shows. This NYC pop-up show was announced on the day of the performance. In this video, mgk is performing an unreleased song called "starman" for the first time. "starman" by mgk sampled "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind. Before performing the song, mgk talked about how hard it was to get this sample cleared.

"I wanted to clear this sample ['Semi-Charmed Life' by Third Eye Blind] so bad, and it was hard because it's a very popular song," mgk said. "And the writer is an amazing modern day poet, I mean, songwriter and a huge soundtrack for my life growing up. So I was really intimidated to kind of ask him, and then one day I was feeling froggy, so I left, and I called him, and I said, 'Hey, are you around?' and he was, 'I'm actually in town. My house is in Malibu if you wanna come by.' I said, 'Sure.' Why are we cheering for Malibu? Because he's rich? He's rich, dude. PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), the road to get to his house was blocked off because of the fires, which is really sad and um... just because so many homes were burnt and lost in that strip right there... is iconic strip in California. You can only get through if you have a resident pass like if you have a house there. I do not [have a house there]. I pulled my car up to the National Guard, and I was just sitting there like, 'Dude, please be a young army man who likes mgk.' I pulled up, and he's like, 'Where you going?' I was like, 'Oh, I'm going in here to meet somebody,' and he was like, 'Do you have a house here? Do you have a pass?' I was like, 'Oh, no, I have no clue that you needed that.' I fully knew I needed that. And he said, 'I can't let you in.' I said, 'Dude, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. I'm trying to clear this song for an album that means a lot to me. The guy to clear it is right in there. So will you believe in this mission and let me accomplish it?' He was like, 'Go ahead, bro. I better hear it on the album.' Let me go in, I sat down with him [the songwriter]. I played him the song, he approved it. Here is a fun rendition of it, and we call it 'starman.'"

After performing "starman," mgk said, "Boy works some magic to get that sample cleared. I hope you enjoy it this Friday when it's out. Thank you to Stephan Jenkins."

So mgk managed to get "Semi-Charmed Life" cleared after facing the National Guard.

"starman" is featured on mgk's new album 'lost americana,' which will be out on August 8.

🎥: "MGK FREE Pop Up NYC SHOW!" on itsAaronSpeaking's YouTube Channel (@itsaaronspeaking)

#mgk #machinegunkelly #colsonbaker #ThirdEyeBlind