Lonely Is The Muse

Album: The Great Impersonator (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Lonely Is The Muse" is Halsey's fierce response to the forces that have tried to confine and commercialize her. In this haunting goth rock track, she channels the frustration of seeing her inspiration commodified, questioning where she's supposed to find meaning in a process that leaves her feeling empty.
  • 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


    Halsey details her struggle with being reduced to mere physicality and her anger at those who've profited off her art while belittling her efforts. Over turbulent guitars and dark rhythms, Halsey defiantly declares her weariness of being just a "body" in someone else's story.
  • Halsey first teased "Lonely Is the Muse" during her headlining set at Sziget Festival 2024 at Óbuda Island in Budapest, Hungary on August 8, 2024. She first performed the song during her secret show at Koko in London on August 14, 2024, and released it the following day.
  • "Lonely Is The Muse" was originally a poem that Halsey later decided to make into a song. English producer Stuart Price (Madonna, The Killers, Dua Lipa) helped her write it.
  • Austin Corona, Wyatt Bernard, and Brandon Buttner produced the alternative rock track. Corona and Bernard also helped produce experimental pop-rock musician Jean Dawson's Chaos album and played on Zara Larsson's Venus record.

    Brandon Buttner has worked with Halsey as a vocal producer, mixer and engineer since he first met her on her 2020 collaboration with Marshmello, "Be Kind."
  • "Lonely Is Rhe Muse" is reminiscent of the grinding, industrial-inspired sound of Halsey's 2021 album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, which was produced by Nine Nails' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Released as her third single of the 2024 summer, it followed the folky "The End" and poppy "Lucky."

    "For every Halsey pop song, there's a Halsey rock song to match," Halsey said of "Lonely Is Rhe Muse" at Sziget Festival 2024. "I like to do both, so I feel like I shouldn't have to choose."

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