Halsey, courtesy.

A mere month after giving birth, Halsey has returned to the music scene with their most garish and gory project yet. Influenced heavily by pregnancy and the beauty and complexity of childbirth, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power attempts to disrupt the discourse around pregnancy and reframe what it means to bear a child.

Inspired by medieval films, TV like “Game of Thrones” and Renaissance artwork of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, Halsey employs a more alternative rock sound than heard previously, with the help of producers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. Together it’s resulted in their most cohesive and seamless album to date.

Coming less than two years after Manic, the newest album finds Halsey singing solo on every song while alternating between more melodic, piano-heavy tracks and those with grinding loud guitars. Paired with the album’s release comes an IMAX film of the same name, giving Halsey’s detractors more to ponder and dissect than their previous poppier, radio-friendly singles.

Sonically, the project moves from start to finish and should be listened to that way. It opens with two of the calmer tracks, “The Tradition” and “Bells in Santa Fe,” where Halsey’s dark songwriting takes center stage. With lyrics like, “She got the life that she wanted/ But now all she does is cry” in the former and “Second-hand burn in a second-hand bed with a second man’s head” in the latter, it’s clear the album’s lyrics will focus on dismantling what it means to be a good mother or wife.

Things turn messier on “Easier than Lying,” where the alternative rock influence of Nine Inch Nails becomes all the more present. Halsey accuses their lover of making them into more of a villain by the day. Through each song, Halsey channels the energy that giving birth has on the female body and how it can alter moods and a way of life. Though graphic lyrics are nothing new to Halsey (look way back to their debut album on songs like “Strange Love”), the new songs literally ooze with blood and ill-fated relationships. The energy found on this track is woven throughout the rest of the project on songs like “Girl is a Gun” or “You asked for this.”

It’s not all screaming and bloody, though, and we’re reminded yet again, that neither is pregnancy or birth. On songs like “Lilith,” a drum guides the song as Halsey sings of being corrupted and caught up in the moment. Fuzzy distortion covers their vocals as the song concludes with a frank take on what consumers of mass media do to female performers if they have children during a career peak. “The more that you give away/ The more that you have/ The more that they take,” they sing, hinting at the rude warnings pop stars like Halsey or Cardi B received when they’ve announced pregnancies.

Halsey’s songwriting has perhaps always been the most prominent aspect of their artistry. It’s elevated to another level on “honey,” which grabs at all the senses. “She was sweet like honey/ But all I can taste is the blood in my mouth and the bitterness in goodbye/ Drippin’ like honey/ Down the back of my throat and on the front of my mind,” they sing during the chorus. There are descriptions of the weight of a woman’s thighs on their own and the taste of her lingering in their mouth and on their fingertips. It’s sexual and literally sweet at the same time.

Halsey wraps the album up with two highlights. “The Lighthouse,” which they declared on social media as their favorite track in terms of storytelling, is visceral and haunting. Finding themselves stranded on a shoreline screaming, Halsey took care of the man who wronged them, and he’ll never be seen again. “I showed him all my teeth and then I laughed out loud/ ‘Cause I never wanted saving, I just wanted to be found,” they sing during the second verse.

The final song, “Ya’aburnee,” is the English spelling of the Arabic sentence “يقبرني,” and upon translation, it makes all the more sense. Literally meaning “you bury me,” the song is a long poem, absent of a chorus, verses or anything that repeats. Reminiscing on a relationship that’s over and perhaps shouldn’t be, Haley sings over a simple electric guitar that keeps the pace without distracting from their voice.

The final stanza reads “Take my life, and take my soul/ Wrap me in a wedding ring/ You know I swear I’d give you anything,” effectively surmising what bringing a child into the world should mean: an abundance of life and love. 

Follow Domenic Strazzabosco at Twitter.com/domenicstrazz and Instagram.com/domenicstrazz.