** trigger warning: suicidal ideation

** explicit language

So for those of you that don’t know, Machine Gun Kelly is one of my favorite artists. I wrote a post a little while back about Machine Gun Kelly songs that helped me through one of the worst depressions of my life. I think one of my favorite things about his music is how unfiltered it is. He talks so openly about his struggles with his mental health and addiction so unapologetically. I love how he is just unapologetically himself.

On March 25th, Machine Gun Kelly dropped his new album Mainstream Sellout and of course, I listened to the album the first chance I got that day. To say I was excited was an understatement. As I listened to the album, I was once again just in awe at how open and unfiltered the lyrics were. There were so many lines that I just immediately connected with.

He has a lot of haters, but I really just think it’s because they don’t understand him. But, people who sit on the internet and make fun of people they don’t even know just have no life anyways. Like calling him a poser just because he originally started in rap and talking about his style or claiming he’s a poser. And like people wonder why he is depressed and anxious…people are constantly coming at him with the most ridiculous shit.

I think the most ridiculous insult I’ve heard is that he is stealing Blink-182’s sound, even though Travis Barker, A LITERAL BAND MEMBER OF BLINK-182, has been involved with producing MGK’s two most recent albums. In fact, Travis Barker was literally the drummer on both albums.

ANYHOO, below are some of my favorite songs from the album along with some of my favorite lines.

born with horns

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

Yeah, part one: why is it so hard to live?
Part two: I shouldn’t have done what I did
Part three: everyone’s left me alone
Part four: I don’t want to live anymore
Yeah, I’d rather be a freak than somebody’s puppet
Release your leash, I don’t belong in the circus
They cut each my wings soon as my name was in cursive
Now I’m six feet deep, I guess my life wasn’t perfect

god save me

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

Last month, took a gun in the room alone
Last month, almost blew my head off
She screamеd and I never put down the phonе
I gotta be somewhere, please hang up

Now, smile for the camera
Breakups are entertaining
My mental imbalance
Mixed with the drugs create me

…

Do it again, do it again and die
I’m a lost boy, I’m a lost boy
She’s a goth girl, she’s a pop girl
I know a one way, I know a one way
To a lost world, to a lost world

5150

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

[Verse 1]
Bruises don’t heal overnight
I’m a few sips from pulling the trigger
Self-abusive, on the borderline
If having you’ll be my grave digger

[Pre-Chorus]
Leave, leave, leave me now
Please, please, save yourself
Leave, leave, leave me now
Before I hurt someone else

[Chorus]
You’re crazy (5150)
I won’t go (5150)
You make me (5150)
I’m damaged (Please don’t fix me)

papercuts – album edit

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

Everybody’s so nice lately (Everybody’s not nice)
Polarized feelings, I don’t wear them on my face lately (I don’t wear them on my face)
Internalized evеrything the headlines say latеly (Everything they say)
Demonized just because I was an angel face baby (Baby)

…

I spend a lot of nights thinking
I might go to sleep and never wake up
I spend a lot of money on these therapy sessions
Even though I’m not showing up
I spend a lot of time healing my mind and my heart
But I still put these drugs in my gut

ay! (feat. Lil Wayne)

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

Only playlists I like are the sad onеs
Yeah, I let the mеdicine in, I know it don’t help in the end
But I got depression again
I had a meeting at 7, I skipped it and slept in and woke up at 7 PM

die in california (feat. Gunna, Young Thug & Landon Barker)

Lyrics That I Connected With:

Killed the me I used to be
I might die in California
In my mind, I had a dream
Saw a demon on my shoulder
Yeah, I know, I should probably let it go (Let it go)
Yeah, I know, I might die in California, die in California, mmm

Ayy, someone cut the lights off please
I’ve been kinda sad lately
I know that I’m good for you (Yeah)
But you kinda bad, baby (Mm)
We’re just doin’ love chants, brewin’ up the potion
I had a premonition I was overdosin’ (So)
Someone cut the lights off please
I don’t want you to look at me
I paint my nails black
If I ever look happy then it’s an act
Every day is an anxiety attack
I wish I could take it back
To when I was drinkin’ water out the tap
With the Cleveland logo printed on my hat
Tell me, was it my fear of bein’ complacent
That ended up leavin’ me so jaded?
I’m miserable even though I made it

twin flame

Lyrics That I Connected With:

And tonight the moon is full, so take me anywhere outside
I cannot kiss you yet, you’re magic, so I’ll just stare at you instead
I get insecure and panic ’cause I know you’re too pure for this

[Chorus: Machine Gun Kelly]
You’re too good for me, I’m too bad to keep
I’m too sad, lonely
I want you only

Takeaways

1. Based on the lyrics I chose, it’s probably obvious that I have struggled with depression. I think he does a really good job of describing what it’s really like.
2. Even though I didn’t put every song on the album in this post, I want to make it clear I love them all. I just tried to showcase the ones I felt showcased how I feel about my mental health.
3. I think anyone who has struggled with their mental health will be able to relate to most of these songs. I know I was really able to relate to a lot of the lyrics.
4. This album is great.
5. Yes, I am an angsty, depressed, and anxious 25 year old. Thanks for noticing.

When I was in college, I got really into Twenty One Pilots. One of my friends was really into them and that was what initially caused me to explore their music. The first two years of college was a bit of a rough go for me and I went through a lot. I was really struggling with anxiety and depression. I was coping by smoking, drinking, and many other bad decisions. I was doing anything just to feel numb.

One thing that really helped me was music. Music and lyrics both really helped me in so many ways. I would listen to some lyrics and just be like YES, SOMEBODY ELSE GETS IT. I was a commuter all through college so I would blast my music on my 40 minute commute and just scream sing my heart out. The music made me feel seen and honestly it made me feel alive. It made feeling my heavy emotions bearable because the lyrics reminded me that I was not alone in my feelings.

Twenty One Pilots songs were heavy on my rotation throughout those years. Somehow I had completely forgotten all about my love for those songs until yesterday. Yesterday I suddenly remembered their album Vessel existed. It has been on repeat in the car and during my work day ever since. I still know all of the words and you bet your ass I am still scream singing them almost 6 years later. Below are some of the lyrics that really spoke to me when I was really, really struggling.

Goner – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

I’m a goner, somebody catch my breath

I’m a goner, somebody catch my breath

I wanna be known by you

I wanna be known by you

[Chorus]

Though I’m weak and beaten down

I’ll slip away into the sound

The ghost of you is close to me

I’m inside out, you’re underneath

Heavydirtysoul – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

[Verse 1]

There’s an infestation in my mind’s imagination

I hope that they choke on smoke

‘Cause I’m smokin’ them out the basement

This is not rap, this is not hip-hop

Just another attempt to make the voices stop

Rappin’ to prove nothin’, just writin’ to say somethin’

‘Cause I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t rushin’ to sayin’ nothin’

This doesn’t mean I lost my dream

It’s just right now I got a really crazy mind to clean

[Pre-Chorus]

Gangsters don’t cry, therefore, therefore I’m

Mr. Misty-eyed, therefore I’m (I’m)

[Chorus]

Can you save, can you save my

Can you save my heavydirtysoul?

Can you save, can you save my

Can you save my heavydirtysoul?

For me, for me

Migraine – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

My mind ship-wrecked, this is the only land my mind could find

I did not know it was such a violent island

Full of tidal waves, suicidal crazed lions

They’re trying to eat me, blood running down their chin

And I know that I can fight, or I can let the lion win

I begin to assemble what weapons I can find

‘Cause sometimes to stay alive, you gotta kill your mind

[Chorus]

Am I the only one I know

Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat?

Shadows will scream that I’m alone

But I know, we’ve made it this far… kid

Car Radio – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With

Sometimes quiet is violent

I find it hard to hide it

My pride is no longer inside

It’s on my sleeve

My skin will scream

Reminding me of

Who I killed inside my dream

I hate this car that I’m driving

There’s no hiding for me

I’m forced to deal with what I feel

There is no distraction to mask what is real

I could pull the steering wheel

[Chorus]

I have these thoughts

So often I ought

To replace that slot

With what I once bought

‘Cause somebody stole

My car radio

And now I just sit in silence

The Run And Go – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With

[Chorus]

Don’t wanna call you in the nighttime

Don’t wanna give you all my pieces

Don’t wanna give you all my trouble

Don’t wanna give you all my demons

You’ll have to watch me struggle

From several rooms away

But tonight, I’ll need you to stay

Truce – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With:

[Verse 1]

Now the night is coming to an end, ooh

The sun will rise and we will try again, ooh

[Chorus]

Stay alive, stay alive for me

You will die, but now your life is free

Take pride in what is sure to die

[Verse 2]

I will fear the night again, ooh

I hope I’m not my only friend, ooh

[Chorus]

Stay alive, stay alive for me

You will die, but now your life is free

Take pride in what is sure to die

Friend, Please – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With

Living like a ghost, you walk by everyone you know

You say that you’re fine, but you have lost your sway and glow

So I stopped by to let you know

[Chorus]

Friend, please remove your hands

From over your eyes for me

I know you want to leave

But friend, please don’t take your life away from me

Oh Ms Believer – Twenty One Pilots

Some Lyrics That I Connected With

Oh, Ms. Believer, my pretty sleeper

Your twisted mind is like snow on the road

Your shaking shoulders prove that it’s colder

Inside your head than the winter of dead

I will tell you I love you

But the muffs on your ears will cater your fears

My nose and feet are running as we start

To travel through snow, together, we go

Together, we go