Halsey appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge to offer a minimalist rendition of Juice Wrld’s hit “Lucid Dreams.” The cover kept the song’s somber guitar line, but omitted the rest of the instrumentation, turning it into even more of a pained ballad.
Halsey described the song as “a great breakup record,” and made minimal adjustments to the song’s lyrics, though she did change the gender of its subject, singing:
I was tangled up in your drastic ways
Who knew evil boys had the prettiest face?
You gave me a heart that was full of mistakes
I gave you my heart and you made heart break
Halsey also discussed her love of emo and her feelings on that subgenre creeping into the rap world.
“You can hear it in Post [Malone], you can hear it in Juice, you can hear it in [Lil] Uzi [Vert], Trippie Redd, like everyone’s drawing from this emo band world,” she says. “It’s so cool for me, because I love hip-hop and I love emo, and this collaboration of the two merging is like my wildest dreams.”
“Lucid Dreams” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is certified five-times platinum, making it the biggest hit of the young artist’s career. In July, Juice WRLD appeared on Genius' series Verified to break down the song.
“I do not trust my head or my heart ‘cause I don’t know which is which sometimes,” Juice WRLD says about the song. “I feel like your emotions and your conscious are in two different places."
There are some thematic similarities between “Lucid Dreams” and Halsey’s “Without Me,” which she also performed during the session. Both songs deal with heartbreak and the aftermath of a relationship, with the latter dealing with how fame impacts Halsey’s love life:
Tell me, how’s it feel sittin' up there?
Feeling so high, but too far away to hold me
You know I’m the one who put you up there
Name in the sky, does it ever get lonely?
“Without Me” is Halsey’s first solo release since 2017’s hopeless fountain kingdom
Read the full lyrics to “Lucid Dreams” and Halsey’s recent single “Without Me” on Genius now.
