This type of skewed self-perception is attention-grabbing, however Halsey shouldn’t be essentially deft sufficient in singer-songwriter mode to drag off a nuanced exploration of it. (Their greatest songs—“With out Me,” “You have to be unhappy,” “Nightmare”—are ultra-efficient and bulldozer-subtle, large feelings leading to large payoffs.) On “Lonely Is the Muse,” they sing about being “lonely and forgotten” because the muse for previous artist boyfriends; the verse is sharp and witty, and it’s additionally one of the crucial head-spinning passages in pop this yr:
I’ve impressed platinum data
I’ve earned platinum airline standing
And I mined a pair diamonds
From the tales in my head
However I’m lowered to only a physique
Right here in another person’s mattress
The muse’s position in artwork, traditionally, has been one among diminishment and objectification, however you’d be hard-pressed to recommend Halsey is a few form of Dora Maar—Halsey is among the most profitable artists of their technology, and plenty of of their greatest hits, just like the completely brutal Scorching 100 No. 1 “With out Me,” perform character assassinations of former romantic companions with the precision of an MI6 agent. There’s completely no convincing argument to be made that G-Eazy’s songs about Halsey are taken extra significantly than Halsey’s about G-Eazy, so it’s a must to marvel in regards to the function and worth of this music; is it to conjure a way of victimhood? To make some listeners really feel unhealthy for not exalting her genius? There’s no accounting for the way somebody feels, clearly, however as a listener, it’s jarring to listen to a passage like this, whose indulgently unhappy veneer hides a handy rejection of its creator’s personal company and expertise. Does Halsey see completely no irony in claiming she bears the load of tens of millions of followers’ expectations earlier than, 40-odd minutes later, decreasing her personal output to “a pair diamonds”?
It’s exhausting to say, in truth, however a lot of The Nice Impersonator does really feel prefer it’s designed to place Halsey as a tortured, singular artist: Their standing as a loner weirdo is invoked on “Darwinism,” a David Bowie tribute that seems like Radiohead, and the PJ Harvey-inspired reduce “Canine Years,” itself one of many album’s higher approximations. (It additionally comprises a real clunker of a illness pun: “I’m making an attempt to B constructive however O it’s actually exhausting.”) A properly designed publicity web site for the album proudly notes that The Nice Impersonator is the primary time producers Michael Uzowuru and Alex G, vocal producer Caleb Laven, and engineer Sean Matsukawa “have labored collectively on a venture since Frank Ocean’s Countless and Blonde”—a considerably ineffective element that solely actually tells you that Halsey is hoping you’ll hear this as a Nice Album. In actuality, it’s one large try at trompe l’oeil, its studio sounds and mumbles of between-take chatter fastidiously positioned to make you’re feeling such as you’re seeing greatness conjured earlier than your eyes. An Alex G fan would solely acknowledge his presence right here as a result of you’ll be able to actually hear him speaking in a few songs; apart from that, the nameless, polyester takes on soft-rock and uncooked folks bear no similarity to his personal music. The principle musical discovery right here may be that even the blokes from Blonde can churn out When We Had been Younger substitute band-worthy pop-punk in the event that they actually attempt.
