Halsey’s “Without Me” is one of the biggest pop hits of the fall. Since it was released just a few weeks ago, the song has already racked up 100 million streams worldwide. The pop singer is building on the hype for her first new solo single since 2017’s hopeless fountain kingdom by releasing a video for the song.
It’s no secret that Halsey has had a tumultuous relationship with rapper G-Eazy. The pair have been on and off again, and reportedly broke up again earlier this month. In an interview with Zach Sang, Halsey said that writing “Without Me” allowed her some perspective on the unhealthy aspects of her relationship, and led to this recent reevaluation. “I have to be honest, [writing ‘Without Me’] led me to my decision [to break up with G-Eazy],” Halsey said. “I listened to what I wrote and went ‘Oh my god, is that how I feel? If that’s how I feel I need to put the pause on this thing right now. I’m obviously talking about my relationship. So the song happened first. And it was, just like, this moment of like sincerity.”
The video features Halsey and a man (who could not possibly look any more like G-Eazy without being the rapper himself) drinking, arguing, and looking generally unhappy. They can’t keep their hands off each other, but their relationship is toxic, exacerbating the man’s bad behavior and causing Halsey anguish. At the end of the video, the G-Eazy look-alike is taken away in a cop car (perhaps another allusion to a real-life event?) as Halsey stands with her hands in a ‘what else was I supposed to do?’ shrug. She’s left standing alone and stronger than ever.
Watch the video for “Without Me” above.
