
Social Secretary Cassandra Fong described Halsey’s latest album as an ‘exploration of authenticity in the modern age
The Great Impersonator is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey, who once again uses the device of a conceptual backstory to deliver beautifully personal music. Described as a ‘space between life and death’, they eviscerate themselves throughout each track in an exploration of authenticity in the modern age.
A stream of consciousness connects all the tracks that otherwise depict juxtaposing moods to each other.
Each track serves as homage towards a musical artist who gave rise to their current work; they initiated a countdown by posting image carousels of themselves impersonating each iconic predecessor. Scrutinising their life in the wake of chronic illness diagnoses, successfully achieving their much-desired motherhood and a subsequent split from the father of their child, they dissect brutally and verbosely their embattled lifestyle in the public eye. A stream of consciousness connects all the tracks that otherwise depict juxtaposing moods to each other. Undeniably one of the best songs on the album, promotional single ‘Lonely Is the Muse’ is a dark alt-rock tune detailing the narrator’s tumultuous emotion while questioning their worth and how past lovers have mistreated and forgotten them, musing on the struggles that come with being a lonely creative against a grinding industrial-inspired sonic background.
Difficult, messy themes of adult life are approached with great eloquence and raw emotion…
Bonus track ‘Alice of the Upper Class’ is a bratty punk-rock song that becomes increasingly aggressive, explicitly declaring that ‘I feel so good when I am hypomanic’; when the exquisitely catchy hook kicks in as they deliver a sneering kiss-off to the ‘smart ass, white trash bitches in the first class’, it feels like the musical equivalent of kicking down a door and spitting as it collapses. Difficult, messy themes of adult life are approached with great eloquence and raw emotion, connecting youthful childhood innocence with grown-up ruminations on aging and leaving behind a legacy as a woman in the public eye. As an ardently weighty document of their survival, they reject dichotomies previously embraced on preceding records, discussing frankly the toll that excessive scrutiny and misogyny took on them.
From being ‘just this f****d-up stoner kid who made it’ to the versatile artist they are known as today, their music has always had tension between their bleak lyrics and infamous ‘cursive’ vocal style. A chameleon-like ability to morph their sound, combined with a morbid self-loathing that causes such intensive questioning, led to complex and fascinating songwriting that amplified the battle to understand oneself whilst being stripped of previous constructions towards the underpinning of the self.
It thrives in experimentation even as they unspool an extensive admission of vulnerability across every track.
This album is an accomplished and assured progression from their earlier music that shines brightest in its eclectic influences, which Halsey brings a freshness to during their revamping. It thrives in experimentation even as they unspool an extensive admission of vulnerability across every track. It is a brilliant timeline for how they have grown and developed in the years between albums, a strong showcase of maturity as an artist, and a stronger statement that they have never conform strictly to one genre. If this really had been ‘the last album [they] ever made’, it would have been an excellent examination of everything that led them to this point and a confirmation of their status as a gifted storyteller and songwriter. And if this album is not a strikingly original, revolutionary collection of songs, does it really matter when the sound and lyricism is still so stunning across the board?
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