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Halsey has lashed out at the “majority” of her fanbase following the release of her new single “Lucky”, which marks her return to music after a spate of health issues.
The US pop singer, who uses she/they pronouns, posted to Tumblr to open up about how they had been struggling to engage in “a space that is completely devoid of any kindness, sympathy, patience, or to be honest human decency”.
Halsey released “Lucky”, which interpolates Britney Spears’s 2000 hit of the same name, on 26 July, but seemingly regrets it after receiving a negative reaction from her followers.
“My own fans are hands down meaner to me than any other people on the planet,” she wrote. “Not speaking for all of you, of course. But it used to be just a minority that were awful to me and now it seems like a majority have only stuck around to chime in occasionally with their opinion of how much they hate me or how awful I am.”
The 29-year-old star said it was hard to engage, “especially after years of hiding from the interactions for fear that this EXACT thing would happen”.
“I don’t know man,” she continued. “I almost lost my life. I am not gonna do anything that doesn’t make me happy anymore. I can’t spiritually afford it.”
Halsey, real name Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, revealed that she became fixated on getting better during her period of ill health so she could return to music.
“But I don’t even know *this* is anymore and I want to crawl into a hole and I regret coming back,” she said.
The music video for “Lucky” tackles the darker side of fame and was directed by Gia Coppola.
It is likely to feature on Halsey’s forthcoming fifth studio album, which she announced after disclosing her many health issues.
She told fans in June that she was diagnosed with Lupus SLE in 2022, and then “a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder”, both of which are being “managed or in remission”.
Halsey said she would likely suffer from both conditions for the duration of her life but had got her health under control “with the help of amazing doctors”.
On social media, her fans called out those who had been trolling her and urged others to be “respectful and humane”.
“If this is Halsey’s way of saying she’s gonna quit after this because y’all don’t know how to f***ing act with compassion i swear to god i’ll never shut the f*** up about it,” one fan wrote.
“PLEASE be respectful and humane. My heart SHATTERED reading this.”
Last week, Halsey and Spears came under scrutiny from fans who were convinced that a supposed spat between the two pop singers was in fact a publicity stunt to promote “Lucky”.
Just hours after the song’s release, Spears claimed in a social media post that she felt “harassed, violated and bullied” by the track’s video and would be taking legal action. She also claimed the video was “cruel” and portrayed her as a “superficial popstar”.
However, hours later, Spears deleted the post and said her phone had been hacked.
“That was not me on my phone !!! I love Halsey and that’s why I deleted it,” she wrote to her 54m followers, to which Halsey responded: “and I love Britney!!!! I always have and always will. You were the first person who ever made me realise what it means to feel inspired. And you continue to inspire me everyday.”
Halsey told fans that Spears had given her permission to interpolate her 2000 song: “I wouldn’t even dream of doing it without [Spears’s] blessing!”
