Halsey is expecting her first child soon, and she says her upcoming album—and breast-baring cover art—is inspired by her impending bundle of joy.
Halsey shared the news on Instagram, alongside a photo of herself dressed like a queen. In the photo, the 26-year-old's right breast is completely exposed while she sits on a throne with a baby perched on her knee.
"If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power," she wrote in the caption, which is the name of the album. She added that the album "is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth."
Halsey said that it was "very important" to her that the cover art for her fourth album, which is out on August 27, "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," she continued. "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."
Halsey said that her cover art "celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired. We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!"
People freaked out in the comments. "THE POWER THAT COVER HOLDS," one person wrote. "OK this is everything," someone else said.
FWIW, it does not appear that the baby perched on Halsey's lap is her child, given that she shared video over the holiday weekend on her Instagram Stories of herself and her baby bump in a black bikini top. "Too hot outside. Beeeeen ready. (Yes it's ONE baby lol)," she wrote.
Halsey announced her pregnancy in January with a photo shoot that showed off her growing bump alongside the simple message, "Surprise! 🍼🌈👼🏻." Since then, the two-time Grammy nominee has shared sporadic photos of her belly with fans, including one that had a toy frog stuck in her belly button, and a collage of photos, one of which howed her putting on lipstick in front of a mirror, baring her stomach. "I growa da beeb," she wrote in the caption.
Prior to getting pregnant, the singer spoke several times about her struggles with fertility, telling Rolling Stone in 2019 that she was considering freezing her eggs until she had surgeries for endometriosis, a condition that can cause infertility. She recalled being excited after hearing from her doctor that she could conceive. "I was like, 'Wait, what did you just say? Did you just say I can have kids?' It was like the reverse of finding out you have a terminal illness," she said, adding that she "called my mom, crying."
Halsey also joked that she made a pregnancy pact with her assistant, saying, "Never mind. I don't need to put out a third album. I'm just going to have a baby!
Halsey said in an Instagram Story in March, per People, that her pregnancy was "100% planned," adding, "I tried very hard for this bb. But I would be just as happy even if it were another way."
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