Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power Album Review

On Halsey’s third studio album ‘Manic’ she opened up about her struggles with a miscarriage she had while performing in 2015. It’s a topic she did quite know how to talk about publicly, so she sang about it to find her voice, and her courage was commended. Earlier this year she revealed she was pregnant again and the world immediately celebrated this news for her. To commentate this experience she jumped in the studio with Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross from Nine Inch Nails to work on a concept album that explored the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. 

‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ is the immersive result of this emotional and celebratory exploration, and it’s truly one of her strongest records to date. Intended to be listened to from start to finish, this record takes you on the journey from the haunting opening ‘The Tradition’ that details an exchange of a girl being bought and sold which commentates a woman’s independence in this world, right through to the beautiful closer ‘Ya’aburnee’ which is an ode of devotion to her husband and child. 

Sonically the album drifts between cinematically scored pop and heavier rock-punk influences that have always been layered in her music in the past, but have been really highlighted with her Nine Inch Nails collaborators. ‘Easier Than Lying’, ‘Honey’ and ‘You Asked For This’ are the clear standouts of this sonical exploration, but the album’s big pop moment is ‘I Am Not A Woman, I’m A God’ which is a bold pulsating synth anthem. 

Halsey has really welcomed this new era in and told her experience of pregnancy and childbirth through a very cinematic lens that is already deservingly receiving critical acclaim. 

Buy Halsey Albums Here Including If I Can't Have Love I Want Power

Thomas Bleach wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Thomas here