Easier Than Lying

Album: If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Halsey, who was pregnant during the making of their fourth studio album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, knew she wanted the concept to be about the horrors of pregnancy that nobody talks about, but she was surprised at some of the emotions that were coming out of the songs, including the angry track "Easier Than Lying."

    "Because they were so confessional, there were themes in the songs that I didn't notice until I was ready to face them in real life," she explained in a Capitol Studios interview. "When I got back 'Easier Than Lying' for the first time, and there was this rage in it… it wasn't until I heard it in that context that I realized I was talking about two things: one is your parents, and the other is your lovers. People in your life that kind of make you into someone and then decide that they don't like the person they made you into. You know, as if you have any control over that. There's a line in the lyrics that says, 'If you're a hater, than hate the creator. It's in your image I am made.' It's like if you don't like who I am, you're responsible for who you made me. And I don't think I had realized that."
  • The album features cinematic and punk-rock sound thanks to producers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, who also compose music for film and TV. "I wanted cinematic, really unsettling production," Halsey told Apple Music. "They wanted to know if I was willing to take the risk - I was." In the past, the singer felt pressured to compromise on the sound she wanted to ensure their songs were pop friendly/hit material.
  • Halsey gave birth to their first child, Ender Ridley, on July 14, 2021. The father is screenwriter Alev Aydin.

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