In a wholly unexpected collaboration, singer Halsey has revealed that her next album is going to be produced by none other than the duo behind Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
On the heels of 2020’s Manic and her recent book of poetry, I Would Leave Me If I Could, the announcement came on Monday morning, with no information other than name-dropping the Oscar- and Grammy-winning artists.
In a ten-second clip shared to the artist’s Instagram and Twitter feeds, a billboard in Los Angeles is visible, featuring the album title and Reznor and Ross’s names, along with the subtitle, “The FOURTH album by Halsey”. A brief snippet of unnamed music can be heard, alluding to a heavier sound from the artist. The new album, titled If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, has not been given a release date
The follow-up to Manic, Halsey’s turn away from pop comes as no surprise, considering her Top 40 success on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay charts. In a November interview with Vogue, she also revealed her desire to record a punk album, as she’s “starting to age out of being angsty and punk”.
The collaboration is Reznor and Ross’s first public project since their win for Best Original Score at this year’s Academy Awards, for their work with Jon Batiste on Pixar’s Soul. Reznor and Ross have collaborated on a number of film scores together, including the Academy Award-winning The Social Network, and 2020’s Mank — for which they were nominated for Best Original Score against themselves.
Reznor has a history of collaborating with other musical artists — including David Bowie and Marilyn Manson — and is also famously credited on Lil Nas X’s smash hit "Old Town Road", which samples NIN’s “34 Ghosts IV”. His last production credit was on Saul Williams’ 2007 album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, on which Ross also did additional programming.
No other details about the album have been released.
Check out Halsey’s announcement below:
