Crafted in the midst of a serious health scare, Halsey’s latest album, The Great Impersonator, was born from her fear of dying.
Since 2022, the singer has battled a mix of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder. Throughout the unpredictable journey, Halsey described feeling like “an old lady,” “gross,” and terrible about herself. Housebound and unwell, the songwriter had ample time to focus on her music. Accordingly, her latest album is one of her longest, second only to 2020’s Manic.
During her sickness, Halsey discovered the value in making art simply for herself—not to share with the world. Bolstered by her experience with motherhood, the singer speaks of the importance of dealing with personal issues away from the public eye.
As well as this understanding, Halsey realized the weight that her final words hold. She recognized that—if her life was suddenly cut short—her latest album would be her last. Elaborating on what this meant for her, the singer revealed her need to finally release a track about her father.
“I’ve written a song about my dad on every single album,” Halsey said on the podcast Call Her Daddy. “Every single time, just when we get to the time when we’re deciding the track list, I cut the songs. I’m like, ‘I can’t do it. I’m too scared, I’m too scared, I’m too scared.’”
However, on The Great Impersonator, Halsey’s track about her dad wasn’t omitted. This song, “Hurt Feelings,” centers on the rocky relationship between the two and how her father’s behavior continues to impact how she views men. The track has a bittersweet feeling to it and was made in a pop-production style—I can clearly envision myself shopping at H&M with this song playing from the store’s speakers.
While staying within the radio-music realm, since her 2015 release of BADLANDS, the songwriter’s music has become less generically “pop.” While she remains in the genre with her fifth album, it feels more authentic to Halsey’s personal style. The Great Impersonator takes more time to highlight the singer’s fortes (like her lyricism), and less to dwell on the angsty roots that remain from her teenage, Tumblr days.
The release simultaneously takes a step back from the extravagant cinematography that characterized her previous works. 2022’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power quite literally came with its own movie. In contrast, The Great Impersonator dials back the Hollywood elements to focus on the actual music. With its honesty and vulnerability, the release feels like a quarantine-era album.
Even though the album focuses on existential concerns and universal experiences, Halsey feared her songs wouldn’t resonate with listeners. The songs were heavily inspired by her feelings during her illness, and she recognized that most people haven’t faced the same challenges she has.
“I pride myself on making records that are deeply personal but still kind-of universally understood or connected to,” Halsey said in an interview with Rolling Stone UK. “That was a real challenge this time because the experience I was having was so, so personal. I kept having to get really creative with the ways that I was making those themes fit for someone who hadn’t been through specifically what I was going through.”
As her primary way of accomplishing this, Halsey personified her musical inspirations. For each of the album’s 19 tracks (excluding the bonus track, “Alice of the Upper Class”), Halsey impersonated a different musical icon. These were revealed in the 18 days leading up to the album’s Oct. 25, 2024 release. Included were musicians Britney Spears, Fiona Apple, Bruce Springsteen, and others. In addition, for “Hurt Feelings,” the artist’s inspiration came from none other than her younger, BADLANDS self.
Despite her fears that the album would be too niche, Halsey’s lyricism and raw emotion make the songs relatable.
One of the most vulnerable pieces of the album, “Life of the Spider (Draft),” was the most difficult for Halsey to write. Sounding informal and deeply honest, the song bears a resemblance to a casual voice note recorded on an iPhone. Accordingly, the audio consists solely of her voice and a piano. The track centers on how the singer felt like a burden when she was ill, touching on an obviously painful subject. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that Halsey admitted to crying every time she hears the track.
Similarly emotional and slow-paced, “The End” was ironically the first song Halsey wrote for the album. Primarily, the track focuses on the themes of fate, faith, and religion. She includes biblical references with lines like, “Cause once my God destroys the flesh, then there’s the flood” and “Maybe we could build an ark.” In the singer’s words, the song is the closest she’ll ever come to her version of a “Hallelujah.”
Halsey starts off the album with “Only Living Girl in LA,” my personal favorite from the release. Inspired by Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood icon herself, the song centers on the difficulty of self-identity in the public eye. On the track—as on the whole album—Halsey grapples with what it means to have an “alter-ego.”
As her career has progressed, the singer has opened up about the difference between her real identity and her stage identity. With the birth name of Ashley Frangipane, choosing a stage alias felt like an obvious decision. However, as her fame grew, she found there to be an increasing, unintentional disconnect between “Ashley” and “Halsey.”
Describing Ashley as being the more calm, masculine version of the two, the singer continues to wrestle with where her two selves align.
Being the opener to the album, “The Only Living Girl in LA” sets the introspective, complex mood for the release as a whole. And, with its six-minute length, the track is chock-full of eloquent lines.
The song is one Halsey looks forward to performing live, for it includes various opportunities for fans to join in and sing along.
“It’s going to feel like we’re performing [the song] together,” said Halsey on Call Her Daddy. “I love when a song feels like you and the audience are doing it together, not like you’re doing it at them.”
Similarly, the songwriter has shared her excitement to perform the faster-paced “Panic Attack” in concert. With a folksy beat, the song will make Halsey feel like part of a 1970s band—something like Fleetwood Mac.
Understandably, “Panic Attack” was inspired by none other than Fleetwood Mac’s leading lady, Stevie Nicks. Despite a happy-go-lucky beat, the meaning of the track touches on the not-always-clear differences between love and anxiety. The song bears resemblance to “Graveyard” from Halsey’s album Manic, as both have a similar theme.
Continuing with a folksy beat, Halsey reminisces on a childhood friend in “Hometown.” Dolly Parton was the track’s inspiration, something that is clear upon listening. While Halsey’s youth was characterized by frequent, tumultuous moves (causing her to have been enrolled in half a dozen schools by the time she was a teenager), the song paints a picture of a small-town, summer upbringing. Specifically, Halsey sings of an old friend, Davey, who will stay “evergreen at seventeen” due to an overdose death.
While grave in meaning, the drums and assemblage of other instruments create a danceable beat.
High-energy in a slightly different way, Halsey retains elements of If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power through the tracks “Ego” and “Alice of the Upper Class.” Most simply, the songs can be described as angsty. Even though Halsey has dabbled in pop-punk since her first album, these tracks come off as being the least authentic of The Great Impersonator. Sounding general enough to have been sung by other pop artists, they remain some of my least favorites of the release.
While I cannot speak for her fanbase as a whole, I believe that the singer’s greatest strength is singing immensely vulnerable lines with extreme passion. Because of this, tracks like “929” and “I HATE EVERYBODY” (both from Manic) remain some of the most impressive of her discography. I can only hope that Halsey will record more tracks like these and less with a punk focus.
That being said, as a whole, The Great Impersonator does come off as being one of Halsey’s most authentic releases. With 19 songs spanning an array of genres, she explores the various aspects that have characterized both her past releases and the styles of her mentors.
As said by the singer herself, “The album is an exploration of what it means for me to be Halsey.”
