Fans of mgk know the Cleveland rapper and sometime pop-punker hasn’t had the easiest life. He’s been candid about his troubled family history and mental health struggles, and last November, his girlfriend, actress Megan Fox, revealed that she’d suffered a “very difficult” miscarriage. All of these things come to the surface on mgk’s new song “dont let me go,” a piano-driven rap ballad that’s sitting at No. 2 on the Genius Top Songs chart.
Produced by SlimXX, BazeXX, and mgk himself, “don’t let me go” opens with the artist alluding to suicidal ideations.
Lately, my thoughts eating me alive
Laid in the bed
Thinkin’ maybe the hate’ll finally go away if I’m not alive
Wish I didn’t listen
Just like I wish they would understand me one time
In the next lines, mgk reveals that he had a mental breakdown, and that it led to him getting the blackout tattoos that now cover most of his upper torso.
I had a breakdown and tatted my entire body except one line
Everything’s just fine
Later in the verse, mgk reflects on his father’s 2020 death, a traumatic event that led the rapper to attempt suicide. He also talks about how he recently reconciled with his mother, who left the family when he was nine years old.
I’ve been runnin’ from
Secrets I hid as a kid and I never confronted ’em
I just called ma, said I forgive her
For not bein’ there when I needed one
The chorus suggests mgk is now on the road to recovery.
I’m comin’ back, just let me go
I’m comin’ back, just let me go, yeah
I’m comin’ back, just let me go
I’m comin’ back, don’t let me go
In the second and final verse, mgk offers some devastating lines about the miscarriage and the deaths in his family (he also lost his aunt in 2017) that have left him feeling completely alone.
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
At the end of the second verse, mgk confesses that he’s terrified his fans will one day abandon him. He doesn’t want to leave this world without feeling like he’s made a mark.
Constantly dreadin’ the day
That the audience might not be screaming for me anymore
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
“dont let me go” arrives with a stirring music video in which mgk shows off his piano skills and raps while staring directly into the camera.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
You can read all the lyrics to “dont let me go” on Genius now.
