Halsey can’t make new music, here’s why

Halsey is opening up about the challenges she’s facing with releasing new music, admitting that her label has restricted her from working on another album for now.

In a new Apple Music interview released Sept. 18, the singer revealed, “I can’t make an album right now—I’m not allowed to. That’s the reality, because The Great Impersonator didn’t perform the way they thought it was going to.”

The record, which came out in October 2024, marked a bold creative move for Halsey, but she says the expectations around it were unfairly high compared to her past projects. 

Defending the album’s performance, she pointed out, “If I’m being honest with you, the [Great Impersonator] album sold 100,000 f--king copies first week. That’s a pretty big first week, especially for an artist who hasn’t had a hit in a long time. The tour is the highest selling tour of my entire career, but they want Manic numbers from me… I can’t do that every single time.”

The 30-year-old, who shares son Ender with ex Alev Aydin, admitted that the massive success of her earlier work has become a double-edged sword. 

“That’s the hardest part of having been a pop star once,” she explained. 

“Because I’m not one anymore, but I’m being compared to numbers and to other people that I don’t consider lateral to me.”

The Great Impersonator, a genre-blending concept album, was widely seen as a reflection of her personal struggles, including her recent health battles with lupus and a bone marrow disorder. 

For Halsey, the project was not only a creative statement but also one of her most personal works, even if the industry expected it to replicate the mainstream chart success of her past hits like those on Manic.