forget me too (feat. Halsey)

\"forget me too\" is a high-energy pop-punk anthem that delves into the explosive and cyclical nature of a toxic relationship. The song portrays a couple trapped in a volatile loop of breaking up and making up. Lyrically, it's a raw, back-and-forth dialogue between two lovers who can't live with each other but can't let each other go. The core message revolves around the idea of a relationship so intensely codependent that the lines between love and hate are blurred. Both Machine Gun Kelly and Halsey's characters express a desire to end the relationship and forget the other person, but simultaneously admit they are incapable of doing so. The central hook, \"You want me to forget you? Okay, forget me too,\" serves as a bitter, prideful challenge, revealing their shared inability to be the first to truly walk away. The song captures the destructive pattern where intense fights, symbolized by MGK's lyric about punching a wall, are followed by passionate intimacy. It highlights a connection that thrives on chaos and dysfunction, where both individuals feel trapped by their intense, albeit damaging, feelings for one another.

The song captures the volatile and destructive cycle of a toxic relationship from two perspectives. It begins with the male narrator, Machine Gun Kelly, expressing immediate panic upon seeing his ex-partner enter a room. He's torn between escaping and being drawn back in by her familiar presence, symbolized by her perfume. He acknowledges the physical manifestation of his frustration, referencing a hole he punched in a wall, immediately contrasted with a memory of an intimate encounter at The Chateau Marmont. This highlights their cyclical pattern of intense fighting followed by passionate reconciliation. He admits to leaving before she wakes up, suggesting a recurring inability to face the morning-after reality and the emotional fallout when sober.

The chorus is a mutual dare, a taunt born from hurt and pride: \"You want me to forget you? Okay, forget me too.\" It’s a challenge that neither of them truly wants to win. He accuses her of hating him, a sentiment he claims to believe, yet there's an underlying sense of disbelief and a desperate need for connection, even if it's negative. He acknowledges making her wait but declares he won't wait for her, further emphasizing the power struggle and emotional deadlock.

Halsey's verse provides the female perspective, echoing the same feelings of frustration and entrapment. She laments the time wasted waiting for his calls, indicating a pattern of neglect and emotional inconsistency on his part. Her line, \"I taste blood when you bleed,\" is a powerful metaphor for their deep, almost parasitic, codependency; his pain is her pain. Despite logically knowing they would be \"better off alone,\" she confesses that with her last breath, she would still try to contact him and would \"die before I let you leave.\" This reveals the depth of her attachment, a bond so strong it overrides self-preservation. She mirrors his sentiment about never seeing him sober, questioning the authenticity and stability of their connection.

The bridge intensifies this mutual confusion and pain. They question each other's motives, asking why they do things that intentionally cause hatred. The relationship is described as an \"emotional kaleidoscope,\" a constantly shifting, disorienting pattern of feelings. The phrase \"permanent calligraphy\" tattooed on the brain signifies that their memories and impact on each other are indelible and inescapable, a permanent mark they can't erase. The final, screamed chorus, with both artists singing together, signifies their shared, chaotic, and inseparable emotional state, trapped in a destructive but passionate loop.

\"forget me too\" was released on September 25, 2020, as the fifth track on Machine Gun Kelly's fifth studio album, Tickets to My Downfall. The song is a collaboration with singer Halsey and features production and drumming from Travis Barker of Blink-182, who was the executive producer for the entire album. The idea for the collaboration came together very quickly. While working on the energetic track, Barker suggested that Halsey would be a perfect fit. MGK sent her the demo that same night, and Halsey, a long-time friend of MGK, came to the studio the very next day. The recording process was remarkably efficient; Halsey reportedly wrote her verse in about five minutes and recorded her vocals in just two takes, which took around 10 to 15 minutes in total. Despite the speed of the session, Halsey noted it had taken them seven years of friendship to finally create a song together. The song was written by Machine Gun Kelly (Colson Baker), Halsey (Ashley Frangipane), Travis Barker, and Omer Fedi, with Nick Long also credited as a co-writer on the track. The official music video, directed by Philip Andelman, was released on October 22, 2020, and visually depicts the song's chaotic and destructive themes.

The song's rhythmic structure is fast, aggressive, and relentless, mirroring the chaotic energy of the relationship it describes. Driven by Travis Barker's signature drumming, the tempo is consistently upbeat and energetic, characteristic of the pop-punk genre. This driving rhythm creates a sense of urgency and angst. The rhyme scheme is relatively straightforward, often using simple couplets and near rhymes to maintain a conversational and direct lyrical flow. For instance, in MGK's first verse, \"best\" rhymes with \"best\" (repetition) and \"obvious\" is a near rhyme with \"more\" (assonance). In the chorus, \"too\" is rhymed with \"do,\" creating a simple AABB structure that makes the hook incredibly catchy and memorable. Halsey's verse follows a similar pattern. The lyrical rhythm is syncopated and delivered with a sense of desperation and anger, which works in tandem with the musical rhythm. The back-and-forth vocal delivery between MGK and Halsey creates a rhythmic dialogue, and their voices coming together in the final chorus provides a powerful, chaotic climax where their individual rhythms merge into one.

\"forget me too\" is a prime example of early 2000s pop-punk revival, a style that defines the entire Tickets to My Downfall album. Musically, the song is characterized by its fast tempo (around 100 BPM), energetic and distorted guitar riffs, and the driving, powerful drumming of Travis Barker, whose style is iconic to the genre. The structure is a classic duet, with Machine Gun Kelly and Halsey taking turns on the verses before uniting for a powerful, screamed final chorus. This call-and-response vocal delivery enhances the lyrical theme of a lovers' quarrel, creating a sonic battle between the two perspectives. Halsey's vocal performance is notably strained and raw, fitting the angsty, punk aesthetic of the track. Lyrically, the song employs a direct and confrontational narrative voice. The use of rhetorical questions in the bridge (\"Tell me why you do the things that make me hate you\") and vivid, aggressive imagery (\"punched a hole in the wall\") contributes to the raw emotional intensity. The production is polished yet retains a raw edge, a hallmark of Travis Barker's production work, which aims to capture the energy of the genre to dazzling effect.

\"forget me too\" was a standout track from Machine Gun Kelly's highly successful album Tickets to My Downfall, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking MGK's first chart-topping album. The song was praised by critics as a high point of the album and a \"total banger,\" successfully capturing the nostalgic energy of early 2000s pop-punk. It became one of the most popular tracks off the album, gaining over 6 million Spotify streams within its first four days of release. The song charted in several countries and contributed to the album's sustained success, which remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for multiple weeks. The collaboration itself was significant, bringing together two major artists, MGK and Halsey, who had been friends for years. The song and its accompanying music video were seen as a perfect execution of the pop-punk revival trend, further cementing Machine Gun Kelly's successful transition from rap to a rock-centric sound and solidifying Travis Barker's role as a key producer in the genre's resurgence.

The lyrics of \"forget me too\" are rich with metaphors that illustrate the song's themes of toxicity and codependency.

• Emotional Kaleidoscope: During the bridge, the relationship is described as an \"emotional kaleidoscope.\" This metaphor perfectly captures the constantly shifting, confusing, and disorienting nature of their feelings for each other. One moment there's hate, the next there's passion, creating an unpredictable and unstable emotional landscape.
• Tasting Blood: Halsey's line, \"'Cause I taste blood when you bleed,\" is a visceral metaphor for extreme empathy and codependency. It suggests that their connection is so deep and intertwined that one's pain is literally felt by the other, highlighting a bond that is both profound and unhealthy.
• Permanent Calligraphy: The idea of their history being \"permanent calligraphy tattooed on my brain\" symbolizes the indelible and inescapable nature of their impact on each other. Unlike a pencil mark that can be erased, calligraphy is an art form meant to be permanent, suggesting their memories and emotional scars are lasting and cannot be forgotten.
• Room 29 at The Chateau: This specific location reference likely symbolizes the peak of their passionate, albeit fleeting, reconciliations. The Chateau Marmont is famous for its celebrity escapades, adding a layer of rock-and-roll decadence to their cycle of fighting and making up.

The most significant recurring motif in \"forget me too\" is the lyrical hook and song title itself: \"You want me to forget you? Okay, forget me too.\" This phrase is repeated in each chorus and encapsulates the central conflict of the song. It's a prideful, defensive dare that both singers throw at each other, masking their true feelings of not wanting to be forgotten. Its repetition reinforces the cyclical nature of their arguments and their emotional stalemate. Another recurring motif is the idea of sobriety, or the lack thereof. Both MGK and Halsey sing about leaving before the other wakes up and never seeing the other person \"sober.\" This suggests that their relationship can only exist in the haze of late-night passion or conflict, and that it cannot withstand the clear light of day or rational thought. This motif highlights the instability and lack of genuine, clear-headed connection in their bond. Finally, the act of leaving and returning is a constant theme, from MGK looking for the back door to Halsey admitting she'd die before letting him leave, reinforcing the push-and-pull dynamic that defines their toxic connection.