Last year, Halsey ended their partnership with Capitol Records after a public falling-out with the label, signing a few months later with Columbia. Today, they offered the first new music from that partnership with “The End,” a strained reflection on her lifetime of hardships. “If you knew it was the end of the world, would you like to stay a while?” she asks of a potential companion. “Would you leave when it gets hard.” Listen to the gutting track below.
Contrary to its title, though, “The End” appears to be just the beginning. In a statement accompanying its release, Halsey wrote:
long story short, I’m Lucky to be alive.
short story long, I wrote an album.
it begins with The End. Out now.
This corroborates comments Halsey made late last year, when she told fans she is working on a new album during a livestream. “The album is not about feeling good,” she said, “The album is about feeling bad, but about feeling bad together.”
Earlier this week, she also sent out letters to fans with cryptic clues to her upcoming work, as well as launching a website revealing possible song titles. You can find the link to that website here.