If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power Tracklist
If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey, released on August 27, 2021, through Capitol Records.
On June 28, 2021, Halsey first announced If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power via billboards in Los Angeles and New York City, following a post on their social media. Then, on July 7, 2021, she announced the album’s release date and cover art in a Twitter post. Finally, an experimental horror film written by Halsey and directed by Colin Tilley was announced on July 13, 2021. Based on the album, it was screened in selected IMAX theaters on August 25 and 26, 2021.
Considered as “the easiest album [she’s] ever written” while pregnant, Halsey teamed up with Johnathan Cunningham, Greg Kurstin and Nine Inch Nails producers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—perhaps best known for scoring The Social Network, Gone Girl, and Watchmen. Just like her 2015 debut studio album, Badlands, it features no guests, which she thought was “very cool” because she wanted it to “be entirely from [their] voice.” Also, the album is a remote project, with Reznor and Ross recording in Los Angeles while Halsey sang almost all of the tracks at a studio in Turks and Caicos.
Blending alternative rock, grunge-pop and pop-punk, Halsey described the project as “a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth.” In an August 2021 interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, she insisted that If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is not a “girl power” album:
That juxtaposition was really intentional because I think there’s this through-line as well of kind of archetypal femininity. Which is why everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s like this is a girl-power album,” and I’m like, “No, it’s not.” Also, not for nothing, but the lead single is “I am not a woman, I’m a god.” It’s not a girl power album. From Jump, I’m like, “I’m not a woman,” you know what I mean? I’m not saying any of that. […] But being pregnant, writing this album, people are expecting girlishness. Any time where I ever talk about womanhood, motherhood, femininity, I’m usually talking about it with a taste in my mouth. Like go be a big girl, a girl is a gun, all I can taste is the blood in my mouth…
“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” Q&A
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Translations
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What has Halsey said about the album's concept?
Halsey:This album is 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. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully. My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being.
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What has Halsey said about the album?
Halsey:It happened by accident. I wasn’t trying to make a political record, or a record that was drowning in its own profundity—I was just writing about how I feel. And I happen to be experiencing something that is very nuanced and very complicated. The reason that the album has sort of this horror theme is because this experience, in a way, has its horrors. I think everyone who has heard me yearn for motherhood for so long would have expected me to write an album that was full of gratitude. Instead, I was like, “No, this shit is so scary and so horrifying. My body’s changing and I have no control over anything.” Pregnancy for some women is a dream—and for some people it’s a fucking nightmare. That’s the thing that nobody else talks about.
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What has Halsey said about the album's storyline?
Halsey:I start this journey with “Okay, fine—if I can’t have love, then I want power.” If I can’t have a relationship, I’m going to work. If I can’t be loved interpersonally, I’m going to be loved by millions on the internet, or I’m going to crave attention elsewhere. I’m so steadfast with this mentality, and then comes this baby. The irony is that the most power I’ve ever had is in my agency, being able to choose. You realise, by the end of the record, I chose love.
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What certifications has this track received?
On February 1, 2023, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power was certified gold by the RIAA.
