If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey

If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey's fourth album, arrived on Capitol on August 27, 2021, and it's a pop star deliberately setting fire to her own template. She handed the controls to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, and the result is thick with industrial grind, distorted low end and drums that clang like machinery, with grunge and pop-punk bleeding through the cracks. She framed it as a concept record about pregnancy and childbirth, the wonder and the terror of it both.

"I Am Not a Woman, I'm a God", "You Asked for This" and "Lilith" were the singles, and a film by Colin Tilley, named after the album and set to its music, played select IMAX cinemas just before release. Critics praised the ambition and the theatrical production, and the Grammys nominated it for Best Alternative Music Album. It was her last album for Capitol.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.