The 26-year-old artist also unveiled the two-minute trailer of the film, which fits the mold of a horror flick and unpacks “the lifelong social labyrinth of sexuality and birth,” the text on the screen reads. “The greatest horror stories never told were buried with the bodies of those who died in that labyrinth.”
On July 7, Halsey unveiled the powerful album artwork at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and later on social media. The cover image depicts the regal-looking “Castle” singer sitting on a Game of Thrones-like golden throne. Halsey, who is currently expecting her first child with screenwriter Alev Aydin, is holding a baby on her lap in the cover shot while exposing her breast, which serves as a nod to the Madonna-whore psychological complex of how women are perceived as either motherly figures whose bodies are vessels for childbearing or sexual beings. In her lengthy caption, the pop star explains how she believes both ideas “can co-exist peacefully and powerfully.”
“This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months,” she shared. “The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore. 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, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being.”
Watch the official trailer for the If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power film below.
