Halsey fans no longer have to worry if they can’t wait for their new album because If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power officially dropped on Friday (Aug. 27) via Capitol Records.
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross executive produced the 13-track project, and earlier this week, the Oscar- and Grammy-winners announced the special guests featured on it: Dave Grohl, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, The Bug’s Kevin Martin, Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, Pino Palladino, Karriem Riggins and Meat Beat Manifesto.
The album’s hourlong accompanying film experience, which Halsey wrote and Colin Tilley directed, premiered Wednesday in IMAX theaters and will have its global theatrical release Saturday.
The If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power album artwork depicts the regal-looking “Castle” singer sitting on a Game of Thrones-like golden throne and holding a baby (not their newborn) on their lap while exposing their breast, serving as a nod to the Madonna-whore psychological complex of how women are perceived as either motherly figures whose bodies are vessels for childbearing or sexual beings. In the caption of the Instagram post, the 26-year-old artist explains how they believe both ideas “can co-exist peacefully and powerfully.”
Halsey also described the album as being “a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months.”
Listen to If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power below.
