Months after revealing that she was expecting a child with screenwriter and producer Alev Aydin, Halsey has now stunned her fans once again by announcing her upcoming fourth studio album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. The album is set to arrive on August 27, and in the meantime, Halsey has decided to unveil the record’s powerful artwork.
Shot by Lucas Garrido, the If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power album cover is an NSFW image that features Halsey sitting on a gold Game of Thrones-esque throne with an ornate crown on her head. In the photo, Halsey wears a breathtaking and regal purple dress while holding a baby in one arm, but the most surprising part about the album cover is that one of Halsey’s breasts is fully exposed.
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“This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth,” Halsey says in her official album announcement on Instagram. “It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Wh*re. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully.”
“My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years,” she continues, “and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being. This cover image celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired. We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!”
Due to the NSFW nature of the photograph used for the cover of If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, we can’t actually show the image in this article, but you can see Halsey’s powerful new album artwork here. Similar photos are often quickly removed and flagged by Instagram, so stay tuned to see how the social media platform reacts to Halsey’s groundbreaking album cover, which has already amassed over 1.8 million likes in the span of just one hour.
What do you think about Halsey baring her nipple on the album cover for If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power?