Halsey’s new era is forthcoming as the singer surreptitiously revealed on a mysterious website that a new single is arriving June 4.
This past week, Halsey had been linking fans to a website dubbed For My Last Trick; the website is unrelated to the release of Eminem’s “Houdini,” for which he coincidentally teased, “For my last trick, I’m going to make my career disappear.”
Halsey’s For My Last Trick site is filled with plenty of faux ephemera from the Seventies all strewn across the browser. Most of the items are functionless when clicked, however, one of the items — a movie ticket stub with the words “The End” on it — opens up a typewritten letter from Ashley Frangipane (Halsey’s real name), a program director at a fictional Los Angeles radio station.
In the letter dated “6/?/71,” Halsey writes, “As you may have guessed, I have written a new album. But I needed some time to figure out how to say what I needed to say.”
The singer continued, “There’s so much I’m going to reveal on this record, but you need to know some of the story first. So before the chaos and confetti of big singles and album releases I just need to tell you, my friend, why it all matters this time. I’m releasing a new song on June 4. It’s just for us. Let’s start at THE END,” suggesting that could be the title of the new single.
Another item on the For My Last Trick website, a record label for “Lesstime Hits and Grooves” opens up a Spotify playlist titled “?” featuring 29 songs that seemingly inspired Halsey’s next era. The playlist includes mostly Seventies artists like Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Gordon Lightfoot, and Fleetwood Mac and more obscure acts like Jackson C. Frank, Sibylle Baier, and Caedmon, although some post-Seventies artists — like Alex G, Tracy Chapman, and Elliott Smith — also made the cut.
One more For My Last Trick item, a sticker that says “I Have Something to Tell You,” invites fans to sign up for a mailing list where more details will likely be shared in the coming days given the impending release of the new single on June 4.
Halsey’s last album, the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-produced If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, arrived in 2021. The promise of new music comes almost a year after Halsey signed with Columbia Records following a decade-long stint on Capitol.