Halsey has discussed the creation of new album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’, which they call the “easiest I’ve ever written”.
The new album, produced by Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is released today (August 27).
- READ MORE: Halsey – ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ review: an endlessly compelling artistic statement
Speaking to Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe in a new interview about ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’, which will be broadcast in full on Monday (August 30), Halsey spoke about how their personal circumstances meant that they had the easiest time yet crafting the record, despite its dark lyrical tones.
“It’s the easiest album I’ve ever written, literally,” they told Lowe. “Everyone was like, ‘Why are you writing an album, you’re pregnant?’ Because it was the easiest album I’ve ever written.
“And in true Halsey fashion, the writing of the album always manifests itself in a complete juxtaposition to how I feel in my real life. ‘Manic’, I told you, was this album that I had initially intended to be an angry, political, pissed off, fem pop punk album. And then I ended up with this eclectic rainbows and butterflies, synth like. And I was when I made that album, but it manifested itself in a different way.
“Now here comes me, totally in love, the world’s in shambles, but I’m getting arguably, the first break I’ve had in seven years. I’m finally taking care of myself, eating my vegetables and getting sleep and I’m pregnant and everything’s amazing and then out comes this. I think being pregnant in the public eye is a really difficult thing, because as a performer, so much of your identity is predicated on being sexually desirable.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Halsey discussed “wanting to work with Trent [Reznor] for years” and some of the “weird choices” he made when producing the album.
‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ also features contributions from Dave Grohl, Lindsey Buckingham, Pino Palladino and more.
Reviewing the album, NME wrote: “It almost goes without saying that this album is intense as hell and not exactly teeming with light relief. It’s also an intricate and an endlessly compelling artistic statement that only Halsey could have made.”
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