After taking a detour into rock, Machine Gun Kelly is back on his rap game on the new four-minute career retrospective track “Pressure.” Over a laid-back “la-la-la” background, MGK raps, “The diamonds are symbolic of all the pressure they put on me until I shined/ My life is symbiotic with the culture, I could never, ever lose the vibe,” in the opening verse of the song that dropped on Monday.
The accompanying video finds Colson going home to Cleveland to hang with his pals and making sure you know he’s repping his hometown via a white hat that reads, “I’m From Cleveland.” Though he’s risen up from his humble roots, MGK revisits the lean years in the second verse, where he raps, “I was eleven/ Sharin’ a bed with my dad, but didn’t have a bedroom/ In a recession/ Six of us in a Ford Explorer, didn’t have leg-room/ Everything’s destined/ It was inevitable I take on his aggression.”
The visual ping-pongs between MGK and his dancers bopping down the city’s streets, cars and four-wheelers burning out in front of a liquor store and Baker casually sitting on a gold and crimson throne. About a minute and a half in, the hi-hat heavy beat subtly shifts to a molasses-slow chopped and screwed vibe as MGK’s pal, Bupkis star Pete Davidson, makes a brief cameo chilling in front of an ice cream truck.
The third part of the song shifts into a slinky uptempo beat, with MGK turning his attention to flossing about his money, jewels, women and some of his demons. “I slept in the attack, had demon nights/ That’s in the house off Lee Road/ I saw my friend’s eyes change, now he just a body with no soul,” he laments.
“Pressure” is MGK’s return to rap following two rock-leaning albums, Tickets to My Downfall (2020) and Mainstream Sellout (2022) and it comes on the heels of his “Doja Freestyle” and “Renegade Freestyle,” with the latter seemingly taking shots at Jack Harlow.
Check out he “Pressure” video below.
London four piece Keo are on course to land their first UK Number 1 album with Put A Smile On For Me. After building a loyal audience over the past two years, the London band now lead this week’s Official Albums Chart update. Their debut record explores love, guilt, and self destruction.
Nothing But Thieves are close behind at Number 2 with their fifth album, Stray Dogs. The Southend band are hoping for a second straight Number 1 after Dead Club City reached the top in 2023. Taylor Swift is at Number 3 with The Life Of A Showgirl, helped by the expanded The Encore edition. Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In sits at Number 4, while Soft Cell’s Danceteria opens at Number 5. It is the synth pop duo’s final album together following Dave Ball’s death last year.
Europe could reach Number 9 with Come This Madness, giving the Swedish rock band its first UK Top 10 album in four decades. A 30th anniversary reissue of Alice In Chains’ MTV Unplugged is at Number 13 in the midweek update, with Orbital’s Glastonbury 1994 set at Number 14. Julia Jacklin is heading for her first Top 40 album as The Gem reaches Number 18, while Suede’s Coming Up returns at Number 23 after its 30th anniversary physical release.
Also on track for Top 40 places are Nessa Barrett’s Tough Love at Number 29, the companion soundtrack to LINKIN PARK: UNSHATTER at Number 30, and Dublin band Gurriers’ Nobody’s Coming To Save You at Number 31. Blondshell, Kneecap, Tina Turner, and Leon Bridges also appear in the lower half of the midweek chart.
The official positions will be announced when the final Albums Chart is published on Friday.
