Darling

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

  • Halsey recorded their fourth studio album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, while pregnant with their first child, and the songs reflect both the happiness and anxiety over becoming a mother. Contrasting some of the more aggressive tracks on the album, like "Easier Than Lying" and "The Lighthouse," this bittersweet, folk-styled tune is a lullaby preparing the baby for a life without his mother - one of Halsey's biggest fears. She told Apple Music: "'Darling' and then 'Ya'aburnee,' the last song, they kind of cover the bases, cover the possibilities, of like - I'm singing to my child, almost getting everything off my chest that I would want them to know if, God forbid, something would happen to me."
  • Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac plays guitar on the track.
  • Halsey gave birth to a son, Ender Ridley, on July 14, 2021. The father is the singer's boyfriend, screenwriter Alev Aydin.
  • If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. It was the first album that the duo, who also work as TV/film composers, produced for another artist.
  • The album debuted at #2 in the US. It also peaked at #5 in the UK, making it their highest-charting album across the pond.
  • Halsey performed the song on the October 9, 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live. Lindsey Buckingham accompanied them, playing acoustic guitar and providing additional vocals.

    Halsey also delivered a performance of "I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God" on the sketch show.

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