Singer-songwriter Halsey released her fifth studio album, The Great Impersonator on October 25 after a clever album roll-out where she impersonated several of their musical influences through an impressive use of makeup and styling.
Halsey has had a rough few years. In August 2023, the New Americana singer split with film producer Alev Aydin. Halsey and Aydin share 3-year-old son, Ender, whom they welcomed in July of 2021.
In June, the singer revealed that she is also dealing a double diagnosis of lupus and leukemia on her social media accounts. She has since posted about her journey with treatments as she recalibrates to her new reality.
“long story short, i’m Lucky to be alive. short story long, i wrote an album,” the 30-year-old singer captions one of the posts.
Rather than give in, Halsey decided to do what she does best: Created one of the most vulnerable and cinematic albums of 2024.
In The Great Impersonator, Halsey tackles topics of illness, both mental and physical, family dysfunction, self-hate and aging.
In a post to X, the singer shared that despite the costume and theatrics surrounding the rollout, TGI is about nakedness. Each word is written with the knowledge that they could pass at any time, and that “nothing mattered and somehow everything did.”
Halsey kicked off TGI‘s rollout on Oct 7 with her first impersonation of Dolly Parton, the influence behind the track Hometown.
Over the next eighteen days, she posted more photos of her recreating looks of icons like Britney Spears, Aaliyah, Cher, David Bowie, Bjork, Kate Bush, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and nine others. Among them: Halsey herself, from her 2015 Badlands era.
The track list includes song titles from the artists Halsey cosplayed as, including Lucky (Britney Spears), Letter to God (1983) (Bruce Springsteen), and Panic Attack (Stevie Nicks), the influence is overt.
But for others, like Hometown (Dolly), I Believe in You (Ronstadt), and Letter to God (1974) (Cher) are more covert in their likeness, leaving interpretation up to listeners.
But to be clear, The Great Impersonator is not an album of covers. It is Halsey cosplaying as her influences, people she admires, as a mask of confidence for the vulnerabilities displayed in the album’s lyrics.
While some stans on Twitter wondered if the album would feel inauthentic because of all the disguise themes, Halsey proved them wrong.
Each song shows a different facet of her vulnerability. Each song was written to express the worries of a woman trapped in a state between life and death at a that would otherwise be the peak of her life.
It is a confessional work that shows how her life’s different traumas led have her to where she is today. With lyrics that can range from being profoundly poetic to point blank in your face in its intentions, Halsey paints a picture of the complexities of life and how one can find love and joy in the darkest, most unexpected roads (Thank you, Avan Jorgia).
And despite what the online trolls would have you think, Halsey is loved by her fans; TGI debuted with 93,000 units in the US.
Eighty-one thousand were in album sales and 12,000 in streaming. Her vinyl sold 26,000 units, making it her best week ever for the format.
This makes sense, given how captivating the design is. She released four vinyls, all of which had her in make-up and hair from the different eras she references. These numbers make her the 7th biggest female debut of 2024 and mark her fifth album to debut in the top two position on the Billboard 200. She also ranks 3rd on the Billboard Artist 100 list this week.
Despite its commercial success, The Great Impersonator can’t and shouldn’t be measured by the usual metrics of chart climbs, positions, and sales.
It is a confessional album made to explore the painful parts of human existence. It is a beautifully written project that speaks to the anxieties, fears, and worries that trouble a lot of people with honesty.
It’s clearly not meant to appeal to the general public—but to those who find solace in her candor.
The Great Impersonator is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
This article is for informational purposes only. Trendy Matters has no affiliation with any of the brands or individuals mentioned. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
