On June 28, 2021, numerous billboards went up across major cities of the United States, announcing the fourth studio album by Halsey, titled If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power. She also announced her first pregnancy, with American screenwriter Alev Aydin, after suffering several miscarriages due to endometriosis and undergoing a surgery in 2017. Halsey was slated to embark on her third concert tour, titled Manic World Tour, in 2020, but after postponing and rescheduling many dates due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was announced cancelled on January 23, 2021. In 2020, she contributed to the soundtrack for the superhero film Birds of Prey, with a track titled "Experiment on Me", which is a nu-metal song produced by Oliver Sykes and Jordan Fish from the British rock band Bring Me the Horizon, and released collaborative songs with other artists, such as Kelsea Ballerini's " The Other Girl", Juice Wrld's " Life's a Mess", and Machine Gun Kelly's " Forget Me Too". It included the successful single, " Without Me" (2018), the second Billboard Hot 100 number-one song of Halsey's career. The album is nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.Īmerican singer-songwriter Halsey released her third studio album, Manic, on January 17, 2020. Billboard 200, the album also topped the Top Album Sales and Alternative Albums charts. Scoring Halsey's fourth consecutive record to chart inside the top two of the U.S. Commercially, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power reached the top 10 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Two singles were released to promote the album: " I Am Not a Woman, I'm a God" to United States contemporary hit radio on August 31, 2021, followed by "You Asked for This" to U.S. Music critics reviewed the album positively, most of whom praised its ambitious concept and theatrical production.
Its lyrics center on feminist themes, such as addressing patriarchy and institutionalized misogyny. If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is an alternative rock, grunge-pop, and pop punk effort with heavy industrial influence, driven by clattering drums, distorted guitars, and a cinematic texture to its music. A theatrical film directed by American filmmaker Colin Tilley, titled after the album and featuring its music, screened in select IMAX cinemas around the world on August 25 and 26, 2021, leading up to the album release. The cover artwork of If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power was inspired by artistic depictions of Mary, mother of Jesus. Halsey described the project as "a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth".
It was written by Halsey, Johnathan Cunningham, Greg Kurstin, and its producers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails.
If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey, released on August 27, 2021, by Capitol Records.