This sort of skewed self-perception is fascinating, however Halsey will not be essentially deft sufficient in singer-songwriter mode to drag off a nuanced exploration of it. (Their finest songs—“With out Me,” “Try to be unhappy,” “Nightmare”—are ultra-efficient and bulldozer-subtle, massive feelings leading to massive payoffs.) On “Lonely Is the Muse,” they sing about being “lonely and forgotten” because the muse for previous artist boyfriends; the refrain is sharp and witty, and it’s additionally one of the crucial head-spinning passages in pop this 12 months:
I’ve impressed platinum information
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 function in artwork, traditionally, has been one among diminishment and objectification, however you’d be hard-pressed to recommend Halsey is a few sort of Dora Maar—Halsey is likely one of the most profitable artists of their technology, and lots of of their largest 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 severely than Halsey’s about G-Eazy, so you need to surprise in regards to the function and worth of this track; is it to conjure a way of victimhood? To make some listeners really feel dangerous 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 writer’s personal company and expertise. Does Halsey see completely no irony in claiming she bears the burden of hundreds of thousands of followers’ expectations earlier than, 40-odd minutes later, decreasing her personal output to “a pair diamonds”?
It’s onerous 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 appears like Radiohead, and the PJ Harvey-inspired minimize “Canine Years,” itself one of many album’s higher approximations. (It additionally incorporates a real clunker of a illness pun: “I’m attempting to B constructive however O it’s actually onerous.”) 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 mission since Frank Ocean’s Limitless 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 massive try at trompe l’oeil, its studio sounds and mumbles of between-take chatter rigorously positioned to make you are 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; except for that, the nameless, polyester takes on soft-rock and uncooked people bear no similarity to his personal music. The primary musical discovery right here is perhaps that even the blokes from Blonde can churn out When We Had been Younger alternative band-worthy pop-punk in the event that they actually strive.
