Halsey dropped the romantic video for her swoony single “So Good” on Friday morning (June 10), closing the circle on the most unusual birth of the stand-alone song the singer fought to release over reported objections from her label. In the visual, Halsey makes a heart-swelling realization about her partner, Alev Aydin, who also directed the video for the track that was inspired by their love story.
The couple star in the clip as themselves, with actors Charlie Oldman and Sora Connor and model Tatiana de Campos Ringsby joining them in the meta story of Halsey directing a video about the video. As she watches a director who stands-in for Aydin and a model with blue hair portraying her, Halsey watches herself sing the track’s longing lyrics about the love that almost got away.
The song, which the singer released on Thursday night (June 9), is a pivot away from clangy, industrial rock direction Halsey embraced for her 2021 collaboration with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Written by Halsey along with Sammy Witte and Sarah Aarons and produced by Tobias Karlsson and Max Martin, the singer has said it tells the tale of a friend who they later realized mean much more than met the eye.
“I’m here/ Standin’ in the same dress/ You’re in your apartment/ I’m already gone,” she sings on the pre-chorus before busting into the yearning refrain, “When you left, I bet you held her body closer/And I was hopin’ you would tell her it was over/ You’re all I think about and everywhere I look/ I know it’s bad, but we could be so good.”
In an explanatory text to fans on Thursday (June 9), Halsey begged them to “stop texting your exes lmao this song isn’t about an ex that worked out later on! It’s about the friend that was always there for me, who I realized I was in love with one day. text than angel instead!!!!!!” She also thanked her diehards for their instant embrace of the song, tweeting, “I think this is the biggest and best reaction to a song release I have ever seen from you guys. I’m truly giddy. all of this was so worth it. I had a gut feeling this was a good one.”
The song’s rocky road to release began several weeks ago with Halsey slamming their record label for allegedly refusing to release it “unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” A spokesperson for the Capitol Music Group eventually said in a statement to Billboard, “Our belief in Halsey as a singular and important artist is total and unwavering. We can’t wait for the world to hear their brilliant new music,” only after the singer spent a weekend raging about her struggle to be heard.
The video came to fruition after Halsey teamed with Samsung, which they detailed in an exclusive chat with Billboard on Thursday. “The film we created for ‘So Good’ really tells the full story of the song in the way I intended. Samsung helped us share our vision, giving us the creative freedom we needed to make something we are really proud of,” Halsey said.
“Using the Freestyle, Alev and I were able to share a glimpse of the way that we fell in love: watching romantic films together. But this time, the Freestyle is playing real home movies from our life together. For us, this makes ‘So Good’ come to life in a really special way that we’re so excited to share with fans.” The electronics company provided Halsey and Aydin various resources for the video, including the Samsung Freestyle projector, which was used to share the pair’s memories in the music video; the product can project and adjust to almost any surface.
In the clip it is used to screen footage from the video, as well as grainy home videos of Halsey during their pregnancy and a shot of proud mama snuggling with baby Ender Ridley. It ends with the couple sharing a long, romantic kiss as the camera spins around them.
Watch the “So Good” video below.
