Skin

The song “Skin” by the late XXXtentacion was one that stood out to me as something interesting. It tells the story of a female in an abusive relationship and the speaker in the first verse seems to be a friend or loved one who feels they have to take care of this abuser. It starts right in the first two lines when the speaker of the song says, “There she was, with the blade in her hand/Scars on her skin replace the kiss of a man.” To me that sounds like the loved one has walked in to find the girl after a physical altercation with her abusive significant other clutching a blade for safety after being beaten. Then it goes on to say, “Regret fills her heart as her love leaves her home/She's learned to be passive, but such is a loss/Accepting defeat when I foreclose the cost/For her, this was needed to be rid of the pain/You play the victim and I'll play insane,” which, to me, sounds like after reflecting on her past and this situation, she knows what the next course of action has to be. Which is basically that this abusive person needs to die. They even go as far as to think of a way to have her get away with it. She would play the victim who just lost her loving boyfriend and the speaker would plead insanity hopefully for a lesser sentence, if they got caught.

The song then seems to switch perspectives in the second verse when it says, “​Offense or defense, passive or violent/I'll cut my wrists 'til my heartbeat is silent/With the shell in my hand, I'm equipped with the pump/Shots in her body until she is a stump” This to me sounds like the perspective of the woman in the relationship getting the breaking point and saying she is going to shoot him and then kill herself.

The next verse says, “Stomp out that fucker, his death will be slow/You made me do this, just as far as you know/If you don't exist, then my pain can be rid/So I gut the fucker then eat like a pig.” As violent as this imagery is you cannot ignore the raw emotion behind the sentiment. After being abused time and time again she has been forced to make him feel the same pain that he put upon her. The song then goes on to repeat the second verse, which to me represents the back and forth battle both mentally and physically during this altercation. Ultimately, it ends with the line “I am the heart marksman,” which to me is a great play on words. It makes a play on cupid and his love arrows when, in reality, he probably just means they shot him in the chest.