Halsey Is The Greatest Impersonator In Her New Album!

Written by Jake Pino

Published on November 9, 2024

Grammy-nominated artist Halsey has just released her fifth studio album, “The Greatest Impersonator.” It has 18 tracks, each reflecting the New Jersey-born artist’s personality inspired by different pop icons from the 1970s to the present.

Recorded between 2022 and 2024, The Greatest Impersonator reflects her challenges with lupus and T-cell disorder, alongside the birth of her son, Ender. She believed this could be her final album. “I wrote each word with the confident fear of someone unsure of seeing tomorrow. Nothing mattered, yet somehow everything did,” she expressed on X. Fortunately, both health conditions are now managed or in remission, which is uplifting news. In the lead-up to the album’s release, she shared a countdown by posting daily images of herself mimicking various icons, along with brief snippets of the songs they inspired.

Each song on the album takes listeners on a unique emotional and sonic journey with Halsey. On the one hand, we have tracks like “Panic Attack,” featuring a Fleetwood Mac-style instrumental, and “Ego,” a pop-punk-influenced song exploring the pressures of fame. On the other hand, “The End” offers a slower, quieter, and more intimate experience, while the Britney Spears-inspired “Lucky” reflects on the ups and downs of public life. Each song doesn’t fail to showcase Halsey’s exceptional musical talent and vocal prowess.

Her second single, one of my favorites, “Lonely Is The Muse,” carries the same vibe as “Nightmare” and “Without Me,” exploring themes of isolation, vulnerability, and emotional pain. In the chorus, through her brilliant storytelling and lyricism, she expresses, “Always knew I was a martyr, that Jesus was one too / But I was constructed from unique pieces I learned to unscrew / And I can always reassemble to fit perfectly for you / Or anyone who decides that I’m of use.” The pop star’s love life hasn’t been the most favorable, possibly hinting at her 2018 relationship with G-Eazy. 

The three “Letter To God” tracks are some of the album’s most hard-hitting songs. Each one of them talks about a different point in her life. In the 1974 track, she gives her listeners a small glimpse of her childhood and how her parents would always argue with each other. In the 1983 track, she paints a vivid picture of how she was battling her illness. “I’m at the doctor’s every day because I can’t stop losing weight / And now I’m the one with needles in my arms and in my legs,” she tells us. Then, finally, in the 1998 track, she talks about her baby boy, Ender, and how she watches him play with his toys on the kitchen floor. “And I don’t ever wanna leave him, but I don’t think it’s my choice,” she states, as her illness could get worse at any given time. In her two previous tracks, she tells god she wants to be loved by someone and doesn’t want to be sick anymore. She prays, “Please, God, I’m finally loved / I finally found somebody I don’t wanna get rid of,” implying that Ender, her child, was the missing piece in her life to love and care about.

In here lies The Greatest Impersonator.