Halsey says the themes of their upcoming new album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ have been “amplified” by pregnancy.
The 26-year-old singer and partner Alev Aydin welcomed their first child Ender Ridley into the world in July and the entire experience has influenced the songs which are about “mortality and everlasting love”.
Halsey unveiled the tracklisting on Twitter for ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ – which will be released on August 27 – and was asked by one follower “was iichliwp always supposed to be a concept album? or did it change after you got pregnant with ender (assuming you’ve been working on this since before you got pregnant)?”
To which she replied: “Weirdly enough it was always supposed to be about mortality and everlasting love and our place / permanence. It was just amplified by me being pregnant. Introduced new themes of control and body horror and autonomy and conceit.”
The ‘Without Me’ hitmaker’s fourth studio LP has been produced by Nine Inch Nails star Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and it will also have an accompanying film which will be shown in IMAX cinemas around the world in the lead up to the release.
Halsey also let slip that the record is similar in style to their 2015 debut ‘Badlands’.
She tweeted: “It feels very cool to have an album with no features again. It felt like this had to be entirely from my voice, similarly to Badlands. I can’t wait for you to hear everything.”
Previously explaining the concept behind ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’, Halsey said: “This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months.
“The dichotomy of the Madonna and the w****. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully.”
‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ tracklisting:
1. The Tradition
2. Bells in Santa Fe
3. Easier than Lying
4. Lilith
5. Girl is a Gun
6. You asked for this
7. Darling
8. 1121
9. honey
10. Whispers
11. I am not a woman, I’m a god
12. The Lighthouse
13. Ya’aburnee