Machine Gun Kelly (who’s now going by the shortened mgk) has given his fans and followers a peek at the excruciating process behind his recent decision to black out the tattoos on his upper body.
In a short vlog posted to his TikTok on Monday (April 1), the Cleveland native shared a montage of clips showing that revealed the painful, multi-week journey he pursued to conceal a large portion of the ink covering his arms and torso.
“Today marks the day that I start the physical change of my body. We’ll see what this turns out to be,” he says at the beginning of the video, before it transitions to some of the sessions.
Later he adds: “We’ve done about seven sessions. It’s been about two weeks since we started. This is the most painful shit I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Take a look at the process below:
@mgk“did it hurt?” 🙄🙄🙄♬ original sound – mgk
Upon debuting the new ink back in February, Machine Gun Kelly explained that the change in his appearance was “for spiritual purposes only.” The following day, he dropped “don’t let me go” and went into detail about his mental state and the decisions it led him to.
“I had a breakdown and tatted my entire body except one line,” he raps on the song.
Last week, he and Trippie Redd released a surprise collaborative EP titled genre: sadboy. The 10-track project features an appearance from JID and production from the likes of SlimXX, BazeXX, Ronny J and more.
On the lead single, “Lost Boys,” mgk wrestles with suicidal thoughts as he details his struggles with depression, singing:“Bloodshot, blue eyes, I recorded two tonight/ One is for all those I love, this one’s for the suicide/ Everything is blue inside, everyone at you and I/ People won’t say how they feel about you until you die.”
Elsewhere on the song, he alludes to heartbreak, possibly referencing his high-profile relationship with Megan Fox.
“I’m rich and still savage/ I’m rich and I’m unhappy/ I wish I was back in the days when I had a shitty shirt with my hat backwards/ Now I’m alone in a vamp castle, I’m telling myself it’s the last capsule/ But why would I even wanna be alive to see her with someone at Art Basel? So I…” he raps.
