How Halsey Confronts Fame & Identity On The Great Impersonator

A concept album is hard enough to perfect on its own, let alone when you’re dealing with chronic illness and so much more at the same time. But Halsey comes pretty dang close, if not nailing it entirely, with The Great Impersonator. The record is an 18-track voyage through personal struggles, illness, motherhood, trauma, and healing that will make you want to give Halsey a big hug and start a daily gratitude log. 

She gave us the first taste of The Great Impersonator with ‘The End’ and a very personal announcement: she had been battling serious illness. Lupus SLE, which fans have pointed out is often called The Great Imitator because of how hard it can be to diagnose, is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks healthy organs and tissue. Ashley also opened up about their experience with a rarer disorder that partnered with it:

In 2022, I was first diagnosed with Lupus SLE and then a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder. Both of which are currently being managed or in remission; and both of which I will likely have for the duration of my life. After a rocky start, I slowly got everything under control with the help of amazing doctors. After 2 years, I’m feeling better and I’m more grateful than ever to have music to turn to.  

Halsey on Instagram

And while we can now celebrate that she has things under control, there’s still a lot of heaviness that comes with those kinds of diagnoses and the fears she had about their possible outcomes. Behind the health-related main storyline of The Great Impersonator is a woman reflecting on how she’s lived her life thus far, the legacy she would leave behind, and how pursuing her dream brought on new nightmares she couldn’t imagine. 

The Birth Of Halsey

As Ashley touches on in a few songs on The Great Impersonator, she’s spent a lot of time impersonating Halsey, the superstar version of herself she created over a decade ago. Some notable examples we’ve seen of this are the confident persona she embodies onstage, performing with an ex shortly after finding out they were cheating on her, and now putting on a front to protect her privacy while handling a health battle. They’ve often had to embody this persona to create a separation between their personal and professional lives, and that separation has both grown and shrunk over the years.

“Halsey is an anagram of my first name, Ashley,” they told NYLON in 2014. “I grew up New Jersey, and I would always take the train into New York, and I was getting into a lot of trouble. When I was 17, I was seeing a guy who was 24 and he lived on Halsey Street in Brooklyn. That’s where I first starting writing music and where I started to feel like I was a part of something bigger than my town in middle-of-nowhere New Jersey. Halsey is kind of like a manifestation of all the exaggerated parts of me, so it’s like an alter ego.”

“You’re part of a machine, you are not a human being…” 

Halsey explained in her 2016 Rolling Stone profile that one of the earliest cracks in the glass was when she experienced a miscarriage ahead of a Vevo Lift performance in 2015 and had to go onstage to avoid missing the opportunity or disappointing fans. She shared, “I thought to myself, ‘I don’t feel like a fucking human being anymore.’ This thing, this music, Halsey, whatever it is that I’m doing, took precedence and priority over every decision that I made regarding this entire [pregnancy] situation from the moment I found out until the moment it went wrong.”  

She hinted at the dark sides of fame on earlier songs like ‘Gasoline,’ but the first time we truly got to meet Ashley herself was on her third studio album, Manic. They dubbed it “an album made by Ashley for Halsey” because of how personal it was, drawing from their experiences with bipolar disorder, wanting to be a mother, and so much more. To hammer in the duality of their two identities, they released two different album covers: the main album cover, which she signed copies of as Halsey, and an alternate cover with a more experimental theme, which she signed copies of as Ashley. Meanwhile, the album track ‘SUGA’s Interlude’ talks about the space between “having it all and giving it up” as Halsey and SUGA reflect on creativity and celebrity.

Another notable example of how they’ve addressed fame is on the eerie If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power track ‘People disappear here.’ The “here” in question seems to be the entertainment industry and the spotlight in general, and the song might even play with the idea of Ashley disappearing as Halsey becomes the main focus. She paints a picture, “Way down the dark alleyway, in somewhere in the Garden State, the girl from California waits. She has my name, but not my face.”

Welcome The Great Impersonator To The Stage!

Now we arrive at The Great Impersonator and the time leading up to it! Thankfully, it seems that she was able to put Halsey aside and focus on her well-being as Ashley when she faced health issues. It also gave her time to think about how she’s impersonated and occupied this idea of Halsey over the years. They opened up in a March 2023 Tumblr poem:

I have been asked 100 times what the difference is between Halsey and Ashley and I have never answered honestly. The truth is that I built her, as a child, to protect the tender core that lies beneath. In a confusing chain of events, my maladaptive daydream became my full-time reality. My armor can walk and talk and they look just like me. But you can’t hurt us anymore, because one of us is not real. But the question remains, which one?

Halsey

One way Halsey explores this split is through the album’s decades theme, which pops up in the album’s influences and creative promotions (we’ll get to those in more detail shortly). First, Ashley is imagining how different her life would be if she lived and rose to stardom in different decades. As they explain in the album trailer, they spent time while they were sick wondering about different realities they could have experienced, curious if things would be the same in another timeline. She elaborates, “Have I done enough? Have I told the truth? I spent half my life being someone else. I never stopped to ask myself, ‘If it all ended right now, is this a person you’d be proud to leave behind? Is it even you?’” 

Second, Ashley pays homage to various artists throughout different decades to show appreciation for the impact they had on her life and how they inspired her own art. Some examples include David Bowie on the melancholic ‘Darwinism’ and Fiona Apple on the fierce ‘Arsonist.’ With a little genius marketing, Halsey really hammered in this impersonation idea by “impersonating” these artists with creative photoshoots complete with the perfect costumes and makeup.

Some music fans and even critics didn’t understand the concept or assumed it meant Halsey was trying to embody these artists in particular throughout the album, which almost highlights the point of the concept further. How do we take various influences, traits, and stories and make them our own instead of letting them consume us? If they do consume us, when do we fight back, and should we fight back to begin with? What’s truly living and what’s just a character? 

“The only girl alive in L.A. County…” 

“I told my mother I would die by 27, and in a way, I sort of did,” Ashley admits on the opening track of The Great Impersonator, ‘Only Living Girl In LA.’ “This thing I love has grown demanding and obsessive, and it wants more than I can give.” 

The song introduces us to the disillusionment Ashley feels with Hollywood and the entertainment industry as she’s lived virtually her entire adult life in the spotlight, comparing it to feeling like the only person alive, truly standing in their humanity, in Los Angeles. They reflect on becoming Halsey and deciding to “run away to somewhere on the West Coast and finally be a real-life girl,” which contrasts the disappointment they feel later.

And over time, she learns to value herself as Ashley rather than just as Halsey. “My special talent isn’t writing, it’s not singing. It’s feeling everything that everyone alive feels every day,” they muse. She’s appreciating her internal, emotional world instead of only priding herself on what she’s put out into the external world for millions of people to consume. 

But there’s a sense of looming doom, of course, as Ashley thinks about her illness. “If I ever left behind my body, do you think they’d laugh at how I die or take a photo of my family in the lobby?” they question, calling to mind online trolls and invasive paparazzi who would make things even harder on their family. “The ceremony’s small inside ‘cause I don’t know if I could sell out my own funeral.” 

Halsey’s corresponding impersonation for this song is Marilyn Monroe, which gives us a major clue to how the impersonation theme ties into fame. She shared on Instagram that Marilyn is “the most impersonated woman in history. A woman who eventually had to impersonate herself, day after day; asking the question ‘Want to see me become her?’” In the case of The Great Impersonator, that woman impersonating herself would be Ashley becoming Halsey and needing to keep up with the demands of being one of the biggest artists in the world.

“I’m caught up in the everyday trend, tied up by invisible thread…”

The energetic ‘Ego’ is one of the most in-depth looks at how Halsey views fame and celebrity, as well as their persona in the spotlight. We think the “I think that I should try to kill my ego, ‘cause if I don’t my ego might kill me” might even be about the Halsey alter-ego, if not the “ego” and phases of temporary confidence that could come with fame. 

“Been a few months since I crossed over state lines. Talk to my mom, fake smiles over FaceTime,” she shares. Crossing over state lines seems to describe to the hustle and bustle of touring, so the thoughts in the song likely take place when the Halsey side calms down a bit and the gravity of Ashley’s situation takes center stage. As they step away from one of the most demanding parts of their job, they have more time to sit in their sadness regarding their health and the more disappointing parts of fame. One example, living under a microscope and having less grace when she makes mistakes: “I’ve been having bad dreams my career could end ‘cause I slip up when I should’ve played pretend.” 

Throughout ‘Ego,’ there’s an underlying dread and nostalgia for life pre-Halsey. She thinks about how “voices all came crashing down and said ‘you’re too nice to run this town’” while she was trying to find herself. They confide further on the bridge, “I don’t like the lie I’m living. I’m way too nice and too forgiving. I wanna go back to the beginning when it all felt right. A rooftop, Lower East Side, I’m singing, didn’t give a f*ck if I was winning. It’s all done now, who am I kidding?” 

And with that, she does go back to the beginning and brings us on a little tour through her past.

“I left her back home, but I cannot forget her…”

Several songs on The Great Impersonator bring us back to Ashley’s youth, before Halsey existed and before she got sick. In the Tumblr poem we linked earlier, Ashley explains that she “built [Halsey], as a child, to protect the tender core that lies beneath,” and these tracks give us more context on that tender core and why it needed protection. 

We learn more about Ashley’s home life on ‘Hurt Feelings,’ a song that she impersonated her Badlands-era self for during the album rollout, as she reflects on her tense relationship with her dad. We also head back to New Jersey on ‘Hometown,’ a Dolly Parton-influenced look at their teen years and a tribute to an old friend who died young, seemingly just a few years before they released Badlands.

The ‘Letter to God’ series throughout the album takes us on a journey through Ashley’s life, from their childhood to the more recent past when she was worrying about her illness. These are some of their most confessional, vulnerable songs yet, and you’ll probably see why once you listen to them. ‘Letter to God (1974)’ touches on her parents’ up-and-down relationship and what it was like adjusting to being an older sister. She notices how a young boy at school’s parents treat him really warmly after he’s diagnosed with leukemia, and admits she started wishing she could get sick in hopes that her family life would turn around with the same level of care. In some way, that ties back into the fame theme – if Ashley had the idea ingrained in them that being sick means being treated kindly, then it likely stung even more on a subconscious level that they’ve faced so much hate over the years in the spotlight even while sick.

‘Letter to God (1983)’ takes place in the beginning of Ashley’s illness, thinking back to her friends who died young and wondering if her new medical issues are actually “an answer to those prayers that came delayed.” The final installment, ‘Letter to God (1998),’ is like a love letter to their son, Ender, and explores their fear of leaving him behind in the worst case scenario. “Please, God, I’m finally loved,” she mourns. “I finally found somebody I don’t wanna get rid of.” 

The progression of these songs show that Ashley’s fame as Halsey and her experiences with illness have given her a deeper appreciation for the bright sides of her personal life and the people in it. But ironically, that deeper appreciation may have made the darker sides of stardom more clear. 

“I will fill your life with sounds…” 

‘Lonely is the Muse’ is a crucial part of the story of The Great Impersonator, addressing Halsey’s relationship with fame and herself. We think this is one of the few songs on the album that specifically feature Halsey The Musician as a narrator, almost like she’s speaking to Ashley. “Where do I go in the process when I’m just an apparatus?” they ask while Ashley finds a deeper connection with her true self as she fights her illness. While her focus is on her personal life, what happens to their popstar persona? Does it fade away, or is it still with them? Was it ever really separate from them?

Beyond self-reflection, ‘Lonely is the Muse’ touches on Halsey’s image in the public eye and how people discredit her work by focusing on gossip. “I’ve inspired platinum records, I’ve earned platinum airline status. And I mined a couple diamonds from the stories in my head, but I’m reduced to just a body here in someone else’s bed,” she laments. Diamond records (“a couple diamonds” references their two diamond singles, ‘Closer’ and ‘Without Me’) are ranked higher than platinum ones, so even as she outshines her exes and the music they took inspiration from her for, there’s still so much discussion that reduces her to just their past partner. 

“I spent years trying to be cool,” she muses as a callback to the “I wanna be cool” line from ‘Ego,’ reflecting on how hard she’s worked over the years to make her art relatable and interesting. They go into deeper commentary about how much they’ve given over the years on the song’s chorus, insisting, “I always knew I was a martyr and that Jesus was one, too.” It’s a callback to the confidently nonchalant “I am not a martyr, I’m a problem” lyric from ‘I am not a woman, I’m a god’ that exposes what they’ve given up to be one of our favorite artists: privacy, mental health, and even their physical well-being. She knew this all along but chose to keep pouring her heart into the work and community she loves.

Interestingly, Halsey actually rejected the idea of being a martyr in her 2016 Rolling Stone profile. They shared, “I’m not just some f*cking martyr who’s trying to make all of these lost, misfit kids feel better. I need them to help me feel normal, too.” Just short of a decade later, it seems that she’s reevaluated her relationship with fame and the spotlight and realized she deserved much better treatment from the public. 

Halsey leans further into the impersonation theme of The Great Impersonator on the chorus as well. She sings, “I was built from special pieces that I learned how to unscrew. And I can always reassemble to fit perfectly for you, or anybody that decides that I’m of use.” Think a grungier version of Taylor Swift’s ‘mirrorball,’ breaking down how Halsey can impersonate different types of energy to appeal to anyone, whether it’s fans or someone in her personal life. And do you hear the similarities between the “ha-ah” ad lib on the chorus and the “ah-ah” ad lib from ‘People disappear here?’ We think it’s very intentional to point out the fame motif that pops up on both songs. 

The corresponding impersonation for ‘Lonely is the Muse,’ Amy Lee of Evanescence on the band’s debut album cover, is also really fascinating to us. Amy famously had a very different vision for the band’s hit ‘Bring Me To Life,’ which she wrote about trying to find herself again after a numbing, abusive relationship. Her label pushed her to add the male vocals to the song against her wishes and Rolling Stone even called the track “a case of mistaken identity” in a review that compared it to Linkin Park’s signature rock-rap fusion. Amy eventually recorded a new version of the song for Evanescence’s Synthesis album in 2017, seemingly closer to her original vision and how she interpreted it during the band’s performances.

There are quite a few similarities between the story of ‘Bring Me To Life’ and the stories Halsey tells on The Great Impersonator. She described a similarly paralyzing, unhealthy relationship on songs like ‘Arsonist’ and ‘Life of the Spider (Draft).’ Halsey has faced various pressures in the music industry that have created a further divide between Ashley and Halsey, which brings us back to the idea of “mistaken identity” that came up with ‘Bring Me To Life’ – and even some reviews of The Great Impersonator that assumed Halsey was trying to impersonate various artists rather than telling their own, deeply personal story. And finally, The Great Impersonator feels like a homecoming to Ashley as Halsey and to a life full of gratitude and love that she can properly enjoy. 

“I’m so lucky, I’m a star…” 

After giving us the confessional ‘The End’ as an unofficial single for context, Halsey officially kicked off the Great Impersonator era with ‘Lucky’ as the lead single in July. The song opens with a chorus of laughs and an ultimately-sarcastic “you’re so lucky” – Ashley shared on Twitter that it was originally meant to represent people laughing at her, but it now feels like she’s “laughing together” with fans and turning the heavier moments into something positive. 

‘Lucky’ is a thought-provoking bait and switch, exploring some of the cruelest aspects of fame with a bright-sounding, nostalgic instrumental. This contrast is definitely done on purpose to reflect how it might look like a celebrity has it all while they’re struggling. Ashley reflects on how Halsey went from a girl “who does it all just to be liked by strangers that she met online” to being a beacon for negativity from people who had nothing better to do. The second verse represents the gossip that surrounds them: “Why’s she losing so much weight? I bet it’s from the drugs she ate. And I feel her, but I can’t relate because I’d never end up in that state.” 

The bridge is a big jaw-drop moment designed to show people how harmful their gossip and negative comments can really be, especially when they have no idea what’s truly happening behind the scenes. “I left the doctor’s office full of tears, became a single mom at my premiere,” Halsey confesses. “I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year, and that’s the biggest lie of my career.” Meanwhile, the closing “haven’t you heard?” lyric spins on the idea of gossip to shut it down completely, prompting people to question whether they’ve heard enough of someone’s story to judge them. 

As you probably noticed, ‘Lucky’ interpolates Britney Spears’ iconic song of the same name, and she’s the artist Halsey impersonated for the album rollout! Pretty much anyone who grew up in the 90s or early 2000s idolized Britney in some way, but there was plenty going on that the public didn’t know about until more recently. A notable example is her limiting (and allegedly abusive) conservatorship that led to the #FreeBritney movement. During the conservatorship, she didn’t have full control over her life, whether it was her money, social media, or even her artistic choices. On top of that, Britney has had a spotlight on her for decades and her personal life has constantly been a topic in public conversation. 

“In here lies the Great Impersonator…”

The album comes to a brilliant close with ‘The Great Impersonator,’ which explores what it’s like being a celebrity struggling behind closed doors. Halsey sets the scene with some harrowing imagery: “I’m lying in a car crash in a pile of broken glass. It’s funny how it looks like glitter from the overpass. I’m in a pick-up truck, the door is stuck, I’m sinking in the water. And the girl inside is waving, but the people just applaud her.” What people think is “glittery” and fun can really feel like a scary car crash where no one is coming for help. 

The song’s whimsical production and Ashley’s playful delivery cloud the existential dread in the lyrics, like how the Halsey persona has disguised Ashley’s true self underneath, for better or for worse. She shared during a Stationhead listening party that the “ah-ah” ad lib between lyrics “felt like a sleight of hand, in a way, almost a distraction. Like the “ahs” are supposed to keep you from really thinking about what those words are saying in between. I sound like a puppet whose strings have just been pulled, and she’s been pulled into a standing position… Like, ‘I’m back! I’m up! I’m standing! I’m ready to perform again!’” Of course, that puppet imagery further ties into the battle between Ashley and Halsey as they balance fame and their personal struggles.

The “hope they spell my name right in the paper” line returns to the idea of Halsey’s public presence being one of ambiguity, as well as highlighting the difference between the “normal” Ashley and the superstar Halsey. When an average person dies, there’s a good chance they’ll have a public obituary to immortalize them within their community. But when a famous person dies, it will make headlines everywhere as fans and the general public learn the news. There’s also an element of confused identity here, since our great impersonator is wondering whether they’ll be remembered as Halsey, their public persona, or Ashley, who they are at their core. 

“Does a story die with its narrator?” she pleads, questioning her legacy in a way that might even call back to the “[voices in my head] beg me to write them so they’ll never die when I’m dead” lyric from 2015’s ‘Control.’ Perhaps that’s the true question that The Great Impersonator explores, and we ultimately realize that the answer is a resounding no, largely because of the fame that’s loomed over their head. Much like how the musical influences Halsey impersonated during the album rollout have immortalized themselves in the industry and helped form something new within her, a narrator and their story help shape the lives of the people who engage with it. Ashley’s story will never truly die as long as they tell it, and as long as we carry the impact it’s had on our lives with us. It will be heard, and appreciated, and loved – and impersonated as we weave threads of it into our own stories.

Which tracks do you love most on The Great Impersonator? Do you agree with our analysis? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! 

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