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On February 21, MGK (Machine Gun Kelly) took to Instagram to announce the release of his new single, dont let me go, which is accompanied by a music video.
The song finds MGK returning to his rap roots but not entirely abandoning his recent Pop Punk aesthetic, which is evident from the guitar synths used in the production of the song.
The flow and poetic lyricism revolving around themes of death, loss, and a failing mental state are reminiscent of Kelly's earlier rap music before he made the switch to Pop Punk.
Kelly's dont let me go was distributed to all streaming platforms via EST 19XX LLC under an exclusive license to Bad Boy and Interscope Records. The music video for the song was directed by Sam Cahill.
Understanding the lyrics and meaning behind MGK's latest single dont let me down
MGK's dominance in Pop Punk over the past few years has been commendable, given the fact that he received his first number 1 album with 2020's Ticket to My Downfall, which sold over 120,000 units.
He followed up with another No.1 album in 2022, Mainstream Sellout, which, although wasn't as well received critically as TTMD, did manage to pull in 96,000 album equivalent sales.
This article will take readers through Kelly's latest release by breaking down his lyrics into parts to help derive a deeper understanding of what the rapper is trying to convey.
MGK's dont let me go is a complex production lasting less than three minutes that dives into dark themes, which include:
- Mental Health
- Death
- Suicidal Thoughts
- Trauma
- Drug Abuse
- Addiction
- Family Issues
- Miscarriage
- Loneliness
- Relationships
Trigger Warning: The following song review is rated Explicit. Viewer Discretion is advised.
[Verse 1]
"Lately my thoughts eating me alive / laid in the bed thinking maybe the hate would finally go away if I'm not alive / Wish I didn't listen, just like I wished they would understand me one time / I had a breakdown and tatted my entire body except one line / Eveything's just fine"
MGK opens the song with painful lyrics about his struggles with mental health and borderline suicidal thoughts. He appears to be swimming in negative self-esteem, which resulted in him having an eventual mental breakdown that led to his recent "all-black" full-chest tattoo.
It's obvious as the song goes on that Kelly is mentally suffering, but he appears to play off the pain for a second when he states that "everything's just fine".
"Sipping again, there I go slipping again, I'm acting different again / I see my family's reflection every time I look in the cup, and I sip it again / After the sins, tell me, after all the sins, will I be mentioned again? / Why do I care, if in the end it's just me and God, like I'm Christian again? "
The song begins to adopt darker tones as Kelly starts referencing his struggles with drug abuse and alcohol addiction. He appears to be self-conscious enough to identify that he begins acting differently once intoxicated but is too addicted to stop himself from putting the "cup" down.
He tries to make sense of it by alluding to the fact that, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if he dies because he'll just end up with God.
"Before my dad left this earth / He made sure I took on every quality I didn't want / I was supposed to die at birth / Gave me a chance and I fu*ked it up, give me another one"
MGK references the passing of his father, who tried to enforce certain ideals on Kelly as a child. The rapper also claims that he was supposed to die at birth and feels like he wasted the second chance at life he was gifted.
The end of this bar finds Kelly hoping for a third chance so he can right all his wrongs.
"I've been running from, secrets I hid as a kid, and I never confronted em / I just called Ma / Said I forgive her for not being there when I needed one"
The rapper references how he's been hiding away from painful childhood memories by burying them at the back of his mind. This appears to be his attempt to never have to confront or deal with these feelings.
He appears to speak directly to his mother in the final line, forgiving her for not being around when he needed her the most. This possibly ties into the childhood trauma Kelly was referencing at the beginning of this bar.
[Chorus]
"I'm coming back, just let me go / I'm coming back just let me go, yeah / I'm coming back, just let me go / I'm coming back, don't let me go"
The chorus expresses MGK's conflicted emotional state. It's unclear whether he's speaking to his parents, God, or himself, but it's evident that he's unsure of what decision should be taken.
[Verse 2]
"Who am I when the music stops / And the character that I've been playing is really just broken and fu*king lost?"
MGK seems confused about his real identity, highlighting that the tough exterior he puts out in his music is only a character he created. He appears to reveal how in reality, he's just broken and lost.
"I swear, I've been telling you over and over again in all these songs / But they don't hear nothing I'm writing 'cause they're too busy tryna write me off / And they go on and on and on"
Kelly appears to speak directly to the listeners in these bars as he addresses the reality of being broken and lost.
The rapper states how he reflects these feelings in all of his songs, but people don't appear to notice his subliminal messaging because they're too busy constantly trying to put him down.
"It's funny 'cause if we just sat and talked / You'd see that it's just hard for me to be vulnerable 'cause I blocked it off / I got trust issues, growing up no one there to hear what I thought / My heart was broken like my ribs as a kid, when me and my father fought"
MGK continues to address the listeners, stating that if they were to ever meet him in real life and just sit down to talk, they'd understand why it's so difficult for Kelly to be vulnerable. He cites how he blocked off those feelings because of his trust issues.
Kelly highlights how these issues stem from his childhood trauma since he had nobody to share these thoughts and feelings with. The rapper also compares his broken heart to the physical abuse he claims he had to endure at the hands of his father.
"Yeah, I'm medicating with something that I cannot pronounce, but it's what the doctor gave me / Rehab patient, with a pen and some paper the psychiatrist keeps evaluating"
Kelly then begins to dive deeper into his mental health struggles by alluding to him receiving medical therapy from a psychiatrist who's helping him get over his dark thoughts and addiction.
He also claims to be a rehab patient who's now addicted to music, which can be interpreted from his "pen and some paper" line.
"How can I live with the fact that my hand wasn't on her stomach when we lost the baby? / I don't got no one to turn to 'cause everyone's dead in my life that was tryna raise me"
The lyricism takes on a very serious emotional tone as MGK references the loss of his child. He appears to hold a certain disdain for himself given the fact that he wasn't with his partner when they "lost the baby".
He also highlights how he's left with nobody to turn to anymore since everybody who tried to make him a better person is no longer part of his life and is seemingly "dead".
"Searching for someone to tell me who I really am, I don't know when I look in the mirror / Constantly dreading the day that the audience might not be screaming for me anymore"
MGK highlights how now that he has nobody left in his life to help him with these struggles, he's longing for somebody who can show him who he's supposed to be.
He states how he's scared a day would come when his fans too would leave him and no longer care about him and his music.
"The feeling of dying alone and not leaving anything behind is my biggest fear / Kiss the person that I love as if I'm never coming back after I leave out the door"
Throughout the song, MGK expressed his struggles with mental health and how they hold him back but, in the final lines of his last verse, Kelly highlights how his biggest fear is dying alone and not leaving anything behind as part of his legacy.
Noting that he could die at any point, he states how he embraces the person he loves every time he walks out his front door, just in case he never comes back.
The chorus repeats twice, after his second verse, before the song ends. MGK's dont let me go is a refreshing addition to the rapper's discography, mostly for the artistic lyricism used to portray his failing mental state.
