Halsey sat down for a new interview with Zane Lowe. She talks about why she’s not releasing new music yet:
And that’s the hardest part, I think, of having been a pop star once. Is because I’m not one anymore, but I’m being compared to numbers and to other people I don’t consider lateral to me! You know what I mean? I mean, a couple years ago, yeah, it was me and Ariana quote-unquote fighting for #1 on the Billboard chart. And we weren’t fighting. We were texting. We loved it. It was like the best time ever, that era. The “Without Me,” “thank u, next,” “7 Rings” era, that was amazing. It was an amazing time. But if my record comes out and sells 100,000 copies first week with no radio play, no real support, and the comparison is, “Well why isn’t she doing Taylor Swift numbers?” Are you fucking kidding me? I made an experimental concept album about how I almost fucking died. I’m not gonna do those numbers. But I’m doing pretty damn good! Those are strong numbers! I’m still in the top 10 of female artists’ first weeks. But it’s not good enough because it’s not, you know, “the pop star I once was.” Even though I’m actively making the choice to not be.