“Pressure” by Machine Gun Kelly

Machine Gun Kelly’s “Pressure” was released with the backing of Interscope and Bad Boy on 30 May 2023. 

MGK wrote this song with a couple of his regular behind-the-scenes’ collaborators, SlimXX and BazeXX. Actually, said pair gets both writing and production credit for “Pressure”, as does Joe Reeves, Ghostrage and Charlie Handsome.

Lyrics of “Pressure”

In reality there’s a whole lot being said here, much more than we can delineate in this post. But for the most part, the lyrically-lengthy “Pressure” can be deemed braggadocious.

Arguably the most-impressive section is the second verse, in which the vocalist remembers his economically-challenged childhood in contrast to the dough he’s making now. And along a somewhat similar line, the title of the song, which is only mentioned in the first verse, seems to point to the (industry) hardships MGK has and continues to go through which has fashioned him into the star he is today.

But to reiterate, this piece is a lot more than just base braggadocio. Embedded throughout are self-congratulatory statements like those mentioned above, but it can also be said that “Pressure” is autobiographical in nature.

For example, if all that MGK spits during Part III is actually true, then obviously he’s lived what may be deemed a dangerous life.  It’s as if his goal with this song was to prove that he can still rap, so he uses the opportunity to get a whole lot off of his chest.

But again, the permeating theme throughout, underneath the self-aggrandizement if you will, is that Machine Gun is experienced when it comes to facing challenges. But he’s one of those types of people who apparently believes that going “through hell” is what made him a better and more successful man.

“La-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la, la-la-la—
Hold up”