With The Great Impersonator, Halsey plunges deep into a confessional, genre-blending journey, confronting mortality and legacy through a sweeping lens of nostalgia. Released on October 25, 2024, via Columbia Records, this fifth studio album is a reflection on life and art, death and survival, crafted with the knowledge that it may have been Halsey's last. Diagnosed with lupus and a T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder sometime in the last few years, Halsey channels their diagnosis into a raw and haunting concept album that feels as intimate as it is timeless.
Sonically, The Great Impersonator is a collage of pop, folk, and various sub-genres of rock, paying homage to the many sounds of the past decades. Each song transports the listener to a different musical era, exploring how Halsey’s music might have evolved had they been a product of the '70s, '80s, '90s, or early 2000s. This approach is more than just homage—it's a poignant act of self-reflection, suggesting that Halsey is impersonating the artists they grew up with while making sense of their own mortality and influence.
The album opens with “Only Living Girl in LA,” a track that embodies '70s folk-pop, recalling Carole King’s introspective lyricism and Joni Mitchell’s storytelling. The song is deceptively soft, tracing Halsey’s path through Los Angeles and setting the stage for a record that pulls no punches. From there, The Great Impersonator dives into darker waters with “Dog Years,” a haunting, rock-tinged meditation on time slipping away—a recurring theme that reappears in the album's more sombre tracks such as, “The End” and “Arsonist.”
The album’s “Letter to God” trilogy marks a powerful artistic statement. Spanning “Letter to God (1974),” “Letter to God (1983),” and “Letter to God (1998),” each track embodies the musical influences of its era, with soulful melodies, atmospheric and echoey rock, and grunge-inspired riffs, respectively. These handfuls of songs express Halsey’s search for divine answers in moments of despair and introspection. The '90s-inspired “Letter to God (1998)” is especially gripping, with poignant piano/keys and raw vocals of Halsey and her son Ender, that underscore Halsey’s pleas for strength and understanding.
Tracks like “Ego” and “Lonely is the Muse” add a bit of grit to the album, mixing elements of punk and glam rock with biting lyrics on self-image, fame, and survival of the fittest. In “I Believe in Magic,” a folk-pop track with a very notable Fleetwood Mac influence, Halsey shifts to a tone of wistful acceptance, questioning what magic—whether faith, art, or sheer determination—might pull them through life’s darkest corners.
“Life of the Spider (Draft)” is one of the most experimental songs as it is one of the most confessional on the entire album, with its almost spoken-word verses over minimalist instrumentation poured onto a piano, the poignancy captured in Halsey's lyrics that tackle the struggle to reconcile the fragility of life with their insatiable need to create is unmatched. The result is chilling, evoking both vulnerability and defiance.
Halsey closes with the title track, “The Great Impersonator.” Here, the lyrics weave a final reflection on authenticity, identity, and legacy. Set against stripped-back, echoing instrumentals, the song is a haunting final curtain, with Halsey grappling with their role as an artist who has shaped—and been shaped by—an ever-changing world.
As a whole, The Great Impersonator is unlike any of Halsey’s previous work, not only for its thematic weight but also for its daring musical scope. It’s a bittersweet swan song of sorts, as she confronts illness and legacy head-on. The album feels like a lifetime condensed into eighteen tracks, an opus that’s equal parts eulogy, love letter, and statement of purpose. If this were indeed Halsey’s final work, it stands as a masterpiece—a testament to their resilience, artistry, and unwavering courage in the face of the unknown.