Halsey says their label won’t let them release new music without a “fake” viral TikTok

Halsey has said their label, Capitol, will not allow them to put out a new song unless they can “fake a viral moment on TikTok”.

The American singer-songwriter – who released their fourth studio album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power last year – revealed their situation online in a TikTok video.

“I’ve been in the industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 185 million records” Halsey posted in a TikTok video, which was captioned “I’m tired”.

The star’s video also explained how they are being prevented from releasing the new song they have been working on.

“My record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok,” Halsey said.

“Everything is marketing,” they added. “And they [the label] are doing this to basically every artist these days.”

Taking to Twitter, the singer challenged any accusations of creating a PR stunt with their video.

“I’ve been minding my own business on tour taking care of my baby,” Halsey tweeted. “Four albums deep. Coasting. I’m way too established to stir something like this up for no reason or resort to this as a marketing tactic but now I’m in too deep so there’s no going back.

In a follow-up TikTok, captioned “I wish I was kidding”, Halsey is seen frustrated at their situation as a male team member seemingly empathises with their situation.

Earlier this year, Halsey announced on social media that they have been working on new music: “I have an incredible song that I could put out as a single for radio next but I feel like that’s insane to do bc I haven’t even toured iichliwp [‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’] yet idk.

The writer later revealed they have “a few” tracks in the vault and were unsure if they should release the unreleased music.

In a recent update, the singer has shed more light on their relationship with their record label.

“At this point I don’t know what to do because I told the truth about what’s happening and now I STILL don’t have a release date AND some of you think I’m lying about this whole fiasco. so I’m double fucked lol,” they posted on Twitter. “ If you have questions, I have answers. I have nothing to hide.”

Halsey continued to answer fan questions online revealing they are still contracted with their label and their Manic era song, 3AM, was also blocked from being a single.

Speaking on their unreleased song, Halsey revealed they wrote the song in January this year and reproduced it to fit the liking of her label.

“I wrote it in January. and then I had to re-produce it a few times to get the label on board. But in its current state? Mixed and mastered and ready to drop? Over a month,” the Badlands singer said online.

Replying to a fan question, the 27-year-old clarified that they do not have a release date for the new song and the video has gone viral on TikTok.

“The tiktok is already viral + I still don’t have a release date. I would say just do what you guys normally are amazing at doing when I announce a song (under better circumstances),” Halsey posted thanking fans. “They haven’t given me a date and I wanna release it ASAP so that’s really the hold up.”

You can catch Halsey live on the Love And Power tour at the following:

June

1 Boston, MA @ Xfinity Center
3 Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center
5 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
8 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
11 New York, NY @ The Governors Ball
16 Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
18 Portland, OR @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
21 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
24 Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
26 Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion
28 Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
30 Atlanta, GA @ Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood

July

2 Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
3 Chicago, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
6 Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
9 Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre

And then headlining Reading & Leeds in August.

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