As her 4th release this year and 3rd official single from upcoming album, ‘The Great Impersonator’, Halsey purges her anxiety in new 90s-punk confessional.
Set for an October release, ‘The Great Impersonator’ will be Halsey’s 5th studio album and stand as yet another concept album - something the New Jersey singer has taken reign of since 2015 industrial-pop debut, ‘Badlands’.
For those unfamiliar with the creativity and theatricality running through the veins of her work, ‘The Great Impersonator will be split into 4 parts and explore how Halsey may have sounded if they’d debuted in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s.
Their latest single ‘Ego’ conveys the potential of 90s-Halsey as she leans more into an indie-rock palette (flavourings of which seen previously in ‘3am’, ‘Honey’, and the shoegaze-esque ‘You Asked For This’).
‘Ego’ sees Halsey step further into the genre, embracing a garage-punk quality that further amplifies the track’s anxiety-ridden sentiment. The introductory acoustic guitar allows Halsey to reveal her first struggle with ease, almost calmly despite heavy observations, “Walking down a razor-thin edge / And I wake up tired, think I'm better off dead”.
The instrumentation continues to build into an electric guitar driven anthem, as do her vocals. With a growing intensity, Halsey becomes more desperate to shed her insecurities surrounding identity, fame, internal peace, and trying to find a balance between them all. On an personal, individual level, Halsey confesses “I’m nervous what you’ll think of me now”. On a celebrity level, Halsey confesses “I’m worried my career could end / ‘cause I slipped up when I should’ve played pretend”.
‘Ego’ effortlessly harkens back to these recurring themes of identity, fame, and internal conflict woven throughout Halsey’s discography. From the sarcasm of “go on and be a big girl” found in ‘You Asked For This’ to ‘Ego’s blatant response, “I’m all grown up but somehow lately I’m acting like a fuckin baby”. Similarly, ‘3am’ shares the same identity-crisis detailed in ‘Ego’, relying on others for approval: “my insecurities are hurting me / someone please come and flirst with me” vs. “I’m hoping that someone comes around / helps me figure it out”.
The track demonstrates just how much Halsey uses music as a catharsis. In particular, the verses appear as a complete and utter overflow of racing thoughts, a stream of consciousness - perhaps simply admitting your bad habits and coming face-to-face with your flaws is the first step to purging them. Whereas the chorus acts as the post-cry clarity, realising that there is a solution to be found amidst the chaos (“I think that I should try and kill me ego / ‘cause if I don’t my ego might kill me”).
From seeing childhood habits transpire in adulthood (“still a little kid that can’t make friends / wanna be invited but I won’t attend”), to analysing your defences, ‘Ego’ presents the non-linear nature of exploring, unpacking, and healing your inner turmoil. As an artist instinctively in tune with the needs of her fans, ‘Ego’ is, in turn, sure to be a great catharsis for her audience too.
You can pre-order her forthcoming album here.
Article By Rachel Feehan
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