Halsey has claimed she is “not allowed” to make a new album yet, because ‘The Great Impersonator’ didn’t perform as well commercially as her label had hoped.
The singer-songwriter released her fifth studio effort last October, earning her a glowing five-star review from NME and being named one of our best albums of 2024. It peaked at Number 19 in the UK albums chart, and Number Two in the US Billboard 200.
- READ MORE: Halsey – ‘The Great Impersonator’ review: a brutal but brilliant reckoning with chronic illness
During a new interview with Apple Music 1, Halsey reflected on the expectations of success from the industry, and being compared to major pop acts like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
“I can’t make an album right now,” she told host Zane Lowe. “I’m not allowed to. I can’t make an album right now.”
She went on to discuss “the reality” of her current situation, after “‘The Great Impersonator’ didn’t perform the way [her label, Columbia] thought it was going to”.
Halsey added: “And if I’m being honest with you, the album sold a hundred thousand fucking copies first week. That’s a pretty big first week, especially for an artist who hasn’t had a hit in a long time. The tour is the highest-selling tour of my entire career.”
The artist then claimed that her team “want ‘Manic’ numbers from me”, referring to her 2020 third record – which shifted 239,000 units in its first week. “Everyone wants ‘Manic’ numbers from me,” she said. “I can’t do that every single time. It should be good enough that I do it once in a while, but it’s not.”
Halsey told Lowe that selling 100,000 copies in the first week was seen as “a failure in the context of the kind of success that I’ve had previously”, but said it “would be considered a success for most artists”.
She continued: “And that’s the hardest part, I think, of having been a pop star once. Because I’m not one anymore, but I’m being compared to numbers and to other people that I don’t consider lateral to me. You know what I mean?”
Halsey also recalled her and Ariana Grande previously “fighting for Number One on the Billboard chart”, saying: “And we weren’t fighting, we were texting. We loved it. It was the best time ever, that era. That was amazing. It was an amazing time.”
She went on: “But if my record comes out and sells a hundred thousand copies first week with no radio play, no real support, and the comparison is: ‘Well, why isn’t she doing Taylor Swift numbers?’ Are you fucking kidding me? I made an experimental concept album about how I almost fucking died.”
Halsey insisted that while she was “not going to do those numbers” with the project, she was still “doing pretty damn good” with some “strong numbers” under her belt: “It’s still in the top 10 of female artists’ first weeks. But it’s not good enough, because it’s not the pop star I once was – even though I’m actively making the choice to not be.
“And the problem is that because I have such a dedicated fan base […], I can sell that many copies of an experimental concept album about death and they support me. The same hundred thousand people that bought ‘Badlands’ first week are going to buy those records every time I put out an album.
“If you actually compared me to the other types of artists who are making the type of music that I am making, I’m fucking killing it. But that’s not what I’m up against. And because of that, I’m at the bottom of a category that I’m not in anymore, when I should be at the top of a category that I’m in now. And it’s hard.”
Halsey was speaking to Lowe about the 10th anniversary of her debut studio album, ‘Badlands’.
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