After teasing the arrival of a new era for months, Halsey has officially returned with a brand new song.
"The End" is the first song off of the singer's upcoming fifth album. It will be her first LP since 2022's If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (IICHLIWP.) "The End" sees Halsey looking inward, contemplating the end of the world and falling in love.
"Every couple of years now, a doctor says I'm sick/Pulls out a brand new bag of tricks," she opens over a soft acoustic guitar, strummed by indie artist Alex G. The track is immediately reminiscent of her 2020 album, Manic. There's a gentleness to the simple guitar plucks that calls to mind songs like "Clementine" and "Graveyard."
"The End" is a clear departure from IICHLIWP, leaning far out of the punk-y sound (Punksey, as some fans call the era) attached to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' production. The squeaks of movement around frets and the quiet strings allow Halsey's vocals to shine, both alone and in delicate harmonies.
In the chorus, she turns to a partner in the face of uncertainty. She asks, "If you knew it was the end of the world/Could you love me like a child?/Could you hold me in the dark?"
Later, Halsey is full of adoration and comfort now that she's "finally found a lover/Who's better for my liver, and now I'll finally recover." She offers to "build an ark" with the person on the other side of the track.
Halsey does not name any names, but it's easy to imagine that the lover of "The End" is her current partner, Avan Jogia. The reference to his being "better for her liver" can be assumed as a nod to her ex-boyfriend, G-Eazy, who publicly cheated on Halsey during their whirlwind, party-riddled relationship.
Halsey concludes "The End" with a nod to a new beginning, crooning, "And I know it's not the end of the world, but could you pick me up at 8?/'Cause my treatment starts today."
This hint at treatment is both an ask for literal help for her health and an appreciation for the healing role of her newfound partner. Halsey has been open about suffering from chronic illnesses, including endometriosis and lupus.
"I told myself, I'm giving myself two more years to be sick...at 30, I'm having a rebirth, I'm not gonna be sick," says Halsey in a clip posted to Instagram along with "The End." In another video, she announces it's her first day of medical treatment.
"The End" paints a picture of Noah's Ark as Halsey reckons with the theoretical end of the world by positing, "Maybe we could build an ark/We could sail on broken driftwood through the sopping wet terrain/And count the buildings and the bodies getting swallowed by the rain." She crafts a sharp image out of her gentle voice, leading the listener through her journey into a relationship and away from thoughts of destruction and peril.
Though not dubbed an official lead single for Halsey's fifth album, "The End" nonetheless marks the beginning of a new era for the alt-popstar.
"I am Halsey. I will never be anything but honest. I write songs about sex and being sad," she wrote in 2015. Nearly ten years later, Halsey delivers the vulnerability she's always promised her fans with the soft, plucky "The End."
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