Halsey has made a habit of deftly bouncing between genres lately and their latest song is no exception. The singer dropped the roiling, rocking single “Lonely Is the Muse” on Thursday (Aug. 15), a pointed, lacerating broadside against those who’ve tried to put them in a box and profit from exploiting her body and soul.
“I always knew I was a martyr and that Jesus was one too/ But I was built from special pieces that I learned how to unscrew/ And I can always reassemble to fit perfectly for you/ Or anybody that decides that I’m of use,” she sings on the ominous chorus of the song co-written with Stuart Price (Madonna, Dua Lipa) and produced by Austin Corona, Wyatt Bernard and Brandon Buttner.
The song also appears to take aim at those who would belittle and gaslight the singer, as in the first verse, which posits a scenario of years spent “becoming cool,” only to have someone “make a decade of my efforts disappear” in the snap of a finger. The second verse takes equally hard aim at those who would reduce her success and artistry to the sum of their body parts, while casually noting that others have banked successes off of her Halsey’s artistry. “So, whеre do I go in the process whеn I’m just an apparatus?/ I’ve inspired platinum records, I’ve earned platinum airline status,” Halsey howls over turbulent guitars and funereal drums. “And I’ve mined a couple diamonds from the stories in my head/ But I’m reduced to just a body here in someone else’s bed,” she continues.
After dropping the poppy Britney Spears-interpolating “Lucky” last month, the third single from the singer’s upcoming fifth album is a return to the grinding, industrial-inspired sound of their collaboration with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Halsey released the first single, the confessional acoustic “The End,” which hinted at struggles with some of the serious medical issues she’s battled over the past few years.
According to a release, Halsey previewed the song during their headlining set at Budapest’s Sziget Festival and Helsinki’s Flow Festival last week, as well as at a secret club show at Koko in London on Wednesday night (Aug. 14). At press time a release date for the singer’s upcoming album — their first under a new contract with Columbia Records after parting ways with longtime label Capitol –has not yet been announced.
Listen to “Lonely Is the Muse” below.
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