My Tears Are Falling Flawlessly

Halsey “You Asked For This”

When it was announced that Halsey had made a full album in collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross I had expected something that was mostly electronic and heavy on dark atmosphere, mainly because I figured this was the lane she’d want to stay in. As it turned out I totally underestimated the extent to which Halsey would make the most of a Nine Inch Nails collaboration – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is a varied set of songs that contrast sharply but click together perfectly in sequence. It’s ostensibly a pivot-to-rock album but I think Halsey has actually made better pop music with Nine Inch Nails than she has in the past, mainly because the dynamics of Reznor and Ross’ arrangements and song structures have pushed her to sing bolder, stronger melodies.

We were already in the process of gradually reorienting a lot of mainstream pop back towards rock structures but this Halsey record along with Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour push everything towards more overtly dramatic balladry and the high energy dynamics of alt-rock. It’s like a rebuke of Jack Antonoff’s neurotic half measures, in which rock and folk music is laundered through “modern” production styles so it might fit in better on radio or in the wilds of the algorithms. Halsey is certainly going hard in the other direction, fully embracing musical extremes in the interest of ear-catching, soul-bearing songs.

“You Asked For This” sets a plaintive vocal melody to a track that sounds like a more commercially-minded and drum-heavy variation on My Bloody Valentine’s “When You Sleep.” Reznor and Ross hit just the right balance of driving rhythm and soft-focus noise here, evoking a romantic feeling that’s being warped and corroded through the sheer volume of the guitars on the track. Halsey’s lyrics describe a state of uncomfortable ambivalence about domesticity and being a woman who “has it all,” bored by the trappings of comfort but not quite enough to give it up. In this context the last verse, in which she lists off a new list of things she wants, hits like a cathartic declaration of desire and just some more things she could be bored with once it’s within her grasp.

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