Halsey has officially kicked off their new album cycle with an homage to Y2K-era pop. “Lucky” interpolates both Britney Spears’ hit of the same name as well as Monica’s “Angel of Mine.”
On “Lucky,” Halsey reflects on their complicated relationship with navigating health issues, motherhood, and heartbreak while in the public eye. The raw, honest new single has the singer, who uses she/they pronouns, reflecting on her own desire to be seen and heard as she pursued this career as a teenager without realizing the sacrifices and hurdles she would endure along the way. The beat interpolates Monica’s signature track as Spears’ “Lucky” chorus is sung by Halsey over it. Spears had personally given her blessing to Halsey, who played it for the icon early in the recording process.
In the video, directed by Gia Coppola, Halsey plays a very 2000s pop star version of herself with bright pink hair. A young girl, likely a stand-in for Halsey, idolizes this version of the pop star, learning the dance moves and applying make-up in the mirror as an escape from the young girl’s tense home life. Simon Rex makes a cameo as pop star Halsey’s boyfriend, whom she argues with. By the end, pop star Halsey and the young girl meet on the swings at a playground.
“Lucky” builds upon “The End,” a promotional single Halsey released earlier this summer that more directly addressed the private health battles she’s been facing since being diagnosed with lupus and a rare T-cell disorder in 2022. “Long story short, I’m Lucky to be alive. Short story long, I wrote an album,” they shared with fans. “It begins with ‘The End.'”
Halsey’s upcoming fifth album follows 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Since then, Halsey appeared in Sing 2 and on Calvin Harris’ Funk Wave Bounces Vol. 2. Last year, she released a solo version of “Die 4 Me,” her 2019 collaboration with Post Malone and Future.
