Halsey—an artist who has never shied away from calling out the music industry—did just that over the weekend by taking their record label to task for refusing to release a new tune. The Without Me singer took to TikTok to explain the mess —alleging that their label is blocking the release of their new single for marketing reasons.
"Basically, I have a song that I love and I wanna release ASAP but my record label won't let me," Halsey wrote in the video—while the unreleased track seemingly played in the background.
The singer went on to call out their label, Capitol Records, by alleging that they are withholding the release of the track until it generates enough sufficient social media buzz.
"I've been in this industry for eight years and I've sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can't release [the track] unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok," Halsey claimed.
“Everything is marketing,” Halsey’s continued, before writing, “They are doing this to every artist these days. I just want to release music, man, and I deserve better tbh. I’m tired.”
Halsey later shared a call with someone from the label. The singer captioned the clip, “I wish I was kidding lol,” while a recording of the conversation played.
Over on Twitter, the singer offered fans an update, writing, “Talked to my label tonight after my TikTok tantrum. They said “wow the TikTok is going really strong!” I was like ok cool so can I release my song now? They said “we’ll see!” 🙃 tell me again how I’m making this up.”
“I’ve been minding my own business on tour taking care of my baby. Four albums deep. Coasting,” the singer wrote. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Halsey has called out their label. During recording sessions for their fourth album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, the singer noted the frustrating processes of keeping label executives up to date.
“Updating my progression to accommodate execs and investors, making sure the arrival of my child was timely enough that it wouldn't cost anyone money, was dehumanizing."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmq6GTnXqxu9aeqZ%2BtnGS1orjSnrBmq5GuwG64wJucpWWnpLu1edGeo56Zo5p6r7HWZqqoppdixKrAx6isrWWWlrimedWiqZqkXaK8rrHNrWY%3D