mgk finished "treading water" after rehab: "the foundation of this country atp is broken homes"

mgk went on Apple Music’s Travis Mills Show. During this podcast interview, mgk talked about his song "Treading Water." mgk said Treading Water reflects on broken homes in America, describing the feeling of being “on the brink of drowning,” while the song’s chorus stemmed from a spontaneous voice note Mod Sun recorded, imagining his voice at 80 years old. "It's so funny like the foundation of this country at this point is broken homes," mgk said. "It sucks. The rate of people staying together is much lower than it ever was. Maybe there's some sort of learn by example of what not to do that I could give people with that one [mgk's song Treading Water]. I don't even know why I called it Treading Water. I don't know. It was just like on the brink of drowning I guess. Mod [Mod Sun] with that voice note just being like, pulling up to my house, him just sitting in my driveway and being like, 'I wonder what I'd sound like when I was 80 years old.'" mgk explained, "I went over to his [Mod Sun's] house cause I was just going through this whole emotional sh- and I was smoking, crying, laughing, whatever, all these things at night, and I just went over to his house. I was like, 'I can't be alone with my thoughts.' I was like, 'Let's make music,' and they were playing beats, and I was like, 'No,' and then he played this voice note, I was like, 'Let's chop that up.' That's why it's even glitchy when you hear it." On August 8, 2025 at the XXcon (XX con) concert at Jacobs Pavilion in Cleveland during the MGK DAY week, mgk talked about Treading Water. "This album [Lost Americana] started with a song called Treading Water," mgk said. And then Mod Sun recalled the moment he recorded the voice note. "Without even thinking about anything, I just recorded this," Mod Sun said, before playing the voice note of himself saying, "To give you their love," which later became the chorus of Treading Water. "We started making something totally off topic and Kells [mgk] is like, 'No, we need to make something really really special right now,'" Mod Sun said. "My life also went to sh- right before that," mgk said. "Kells was in a very strange place in his life," Mod Sun said. "He said everything that he could possibly say on that song [Treading Water]. He left [to rehab], and all of us were left at home wondering how he's doing. Literally had no phone, no service, nothing, went away to the middle of the woods for a month. He came back [from rehab] and we had started Treading Water, and he came back, and he said, 'It's not done yet. We need to add a rap verse at the end of it,' which I was so happy about, because we love Kells rapping. And this motherf-r decides to rap every single word that rhymes with 'tion' at the end and does one of the craziest verses I've ever heard him do honestly. Has anyone cried to the song Treading Water yet?" So mgk finished Treading Water after coming back from rehab. 🎥: Full episode on Apple Music: "mgk - The artist talks about the making of lost americana" on The Travis Mills Show 🎥: @madisonsantori @xetherealmgkx 🎶 this song: mgk - treading water #mgk #machinegunkelly #colsonbaker