The Machine Gun Kelly documentary Life in Pink is now streaming on Hulu. Check out the trailer above!

Raise your hand if you’ve never liked Machine Gun Kelly. 🙋‍♀️

If you are open to changing that opinion, keep reading. If not, then you might want to close out of this page now. I, for one, have been a pretty big fan of his since he released his cover of “Misery Business”. I find great joy from his music and am inspired by his decision to leap out of his comfort zone & change genres for a bit.

While it is no secret that many people despise Machine Gun Kelly, the sheer amount of hate this man receives for no reason is truly overwhelming. It wasn’t until I watched the Hulu documentary about his life that I understood the magnitude of it all. Colson Baker opened up about his entire life story in the documentary from gruesome childhood stories to addiction & suicide attempts. You can check it out by logging into your Hulu account.

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Warning – Machine Gun Kelly Documentary ‘Life in Pink’ Spoilers Below!

The almost two-hour long documentary showcases many details of Baker’s life. It touches upon his struggles, his family, his rise to stardom in the rap industry, the inspiration for jumping into the alternative rock genre, and much more.

Early Life & Family

In the documentary, Colson describes some difficult events from his upbringing. He shares that when his father was a child, he had to watch his dad (Colson’s grandfather) die by a shotgun to the head. Afterwards, Baker’s father & grandmother were both suspects in the murder. Their names were cleared, but the trauma remained with MGK’s father for the rest of his life. Colson explains that his father’s unmanaged emotion was taken out on him growing up. He also talks about being kicked out of his father’s house as a teen and how before his father passed he told him “I hope we do this better in another life”.

Colson takes the cameras through his hometown neighborhood and shares many positive and negative memories. From kick-butt performances to cringey music videos, a majority of his life has been captured on camera in some way, shape, or form. He also shares the frightening story of being held at gunpoint with his infant daughter in the backseat of his car.

His daughter, Casie, is featured many times in the documentary. She describes her father at his peaks and at his lows. More than anything, she emphasizes how much she loves him, how she wishes she could see him more, and how she wishes the world would change their negative opinions about him.

Music Career

Machine Gun Kelly is quick to tackle the idea that he “failed” as a rapper so he switched genres. When the pandemic hit, he picked a guitar back up for the first time in a long time. At first, he covered songs, but then quickly became excited about writing his own rock music. He ensued help from long-term inspiration and friend Travis Barker, and the duo hit the ground running writing Tickets to My Downfall. (I would also like to mention that there is a clip of MGK fan-girling over meeting Travis Barker backstage at a Blink-182 show years ago. It was so wholesome). MGK, Travis, and the team were in the studio for as long as 20 hours a day for months in 2020. In less than a year, Tickets to My Downfall hit the shelves and became the #1 rock album.

The Machine Gun Kelly documentary emphasizes how successful his previous album Hotel Diablo was. It was 5th on the Billboard Top 200 albums and was his best-selling record prior to 2020. Machine Gun Kelly has only been on an upward trajectory since his big break in 2012.

He was so distracted by his excitement when creating Tickets that he didn’t notify the label about the album until it was practically finished. Luckily, the label welcomed the genre change and was eager to put the record out. Tickets to My Downfall became Machine Gun Kelly’s very first #1 album on the Billboard 200. This accomplishment was huge for MGK, but the pressure of putting out another number one after Tickets was too much to bear.

mainstream sellout

After soaking in the success of his first pop-punk album, the documentary shows that MGK was eager to get back into the studio for another record. He was enthusastic about working with so many different artists from different genres. He talks about the magic of Lil Wayne’s method where he smoked 15 blunts while listening to the song on repeat, then laid the verse down in 1 take. There are clips of MGK working hard with Halsey on their track. There was almost a track with Slipknot, but some complications occurred. Kelly explains that the first sample sent to him wasn’t quite the style he was hoping for, and that it created tension that led to the elimination of the collaboration.

While the production team thoroughly enjoyed the hard work put into Tickets to My Downfall, they admit that Colson became almost unbearable to work with during mainstream sellout because of the pressure he put on everyone to push out another number one record.

Struggles

*Some of the struggles Colson Baker faced may be hard to read/watch and may trigger unwanted ideas or emotions. Reader & viewer discretion is advised.*

Fans of Machine Gun Kelly agree that the pain & honesty behind his lyrics makes his music so relatable. The raw emotion and the dark places he describes in his songs attract listeners from across the globe.

Most of the struggles discussed in the Life in Pink documentary focus on his mental health in between Tickets & mainstream sellout. He began doing more drugs than ever, was frustrating to work with during tour rehearsals & studio sessions, and began pushing his loved ones away. Colson was so obsessed with this idea of perfection that he ran himself and others around him to the ground physically & mentally. He wasn’t spending nearly as much time with his daughter as he feels he should have during this time.

In the documentary, he even shares a graphic description of a suicide attempt. His daughter & fiancé were out of town, and he was all alone in his thoughts. He was on the phone with Megan when he placed a shotgun in his mouth and loaded it up. When he attempted to use the shotgun, it became jammed, and that is when he realized the magnitude of what he was doing. “I have to get off the drugs,” he told himself.

Moving Forward

When mainstream sellout became number one, he wasn’t as excited as he was before. He felt he sacrificed too much to earn it. From that moment on, Machine Gun Kelly shifted his priorities. He began to focus more on the people he loves, especially his daughter & his fiancé. He found his love for making music again. While the haters continue raging online, Colson has found a way to better manage his emotions & his priorities.

The Machine Gun Kelly documentary ends by saying that he is taking time to do his most important job, which is to be a father.

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