For many performers, flirting with death is a pose or a distant metaphor, or simply don’t-give-a-damn insouciance. This is not the case with Halsey on her fifth album. She’s been assaulted, in recent years, by a range of serious illnesses and conditions, of which Lupus and a T-cell disorder are the latest. The Great Impersonator spends time staring down the barrel of her mortality, viewed through the prism of motherhood. It is moving and musically impressive.
Halsey is a global star who’s used the pop platform to spring in interesting directions. For instance, she created her last album with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. On this one, each of the 18 songs is inspired by a female musician, ranging from PJ Harvey to Aaliyah. An enjoyable game is trying to figure out who for each (the answers are on Wikipedia). This aspect is well rendered, not mere imitation, due to her delivery and sharp lyrical skill. Even when she slips into pastiche, as on “Lonely is the Muse”, which channels Evanescence, Halsey nails it, and with passion.
The production ranges from the super-lo-fi studio demo of “Letter to God (1974)” to the typical stadium femme-pop of the single “I Never Loved You”, to the well-realised Fleetwood Mac-ish yacht rock of “Panic Attack”. But it’s her singing and the existential power of the songs that wins the day: Halsey compares her medical use of needles to long-dead junkies she once knew on “Letter to God (1983)” and muses the cosmic inference of her health issues on the beautiful, piano-led “Darwinism” (“They say that God makes no mistakes but I might disagree”).
There’s a plethora of good songs. From the Dolly Parton-centric “Hometown” to the bubbly burlesque orchestral pop of the title track (honouring Björk) to the epic, informal, giggly, and eventually kick-drum-crazed opener “Only Living Girl in LA”. And there’s more too. She’s suggested that, due to her health, this might be her last release. Let us absolutely hope not. The potency of the one-hour-six-minute album would, perhaps, be heightened by a trim but its rich, real substance showcases a songwriter in her imperial phase.
Below: Listen to "Darwinism" by Halsey
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