Calling it a "sample" is a stretch, she's sampling Fork and Knife's drum beat. I was trying to listen for the piano lick but it's not in there either. I mean it is a Brand New sample for all intents and purposes but as far as sampling goes it's benign.
Sorry for getting off track there. Shouldn’t have mentioned that. Back on track, I feel like “Experiment On Me” could kind of fit on here. It also makes think that it’d be cool to hear Halsey work with Lynn Gunn, considering she’s in this lane right now too. Or Trent work with PVRIS.
I am super into this which has been kinda shocking. I’ve found most of what I have heard from Halsey to fall on a spectrum between forgettable and borderline cringey/annoying and, despite being a huge NIN fan, I didn’t think that their involvement would do much to sway me. and actually, it only really did so to a point, because I think what Halsey themself has brought to the table here is a major step up too. I certainly think it helps that they’re working with collaborators I think are better, but I don’t wanna dismiss what I feel is a major creative step up on Halsey’s part. anyway fuck yeah, so happy about this. You asked for this is so far my runaway favorite I think, I got legitimate goosebumps from it. if anyone is really enjoying this from a musical point of view who either has never checked out NIN, or has previously not been fond of them, I *highly* encourage you to give them another shot and check out either The Fragile, With Teeth, or Year Zero as I feel this not only skews more in the direction of those records (more so the latter two), but they’re also much more accessible entry points into the discography imo (relatively speaking).
The Downward Spiral is actually my favorite and a top 3 all-timer for me so I def don’t mean to discount it, I do hear some of that here (the end of The Lighthouse heavily reminded me of the bridge in Mr. Self Destruct, most specifically). I just know that album is a bit of a tough pill for a lot of folks, at least as an entry point. I know for me, I had to get into With Teeth and then The Fragile in order to even penetrate the surface of what TDS was doing. once it clicks tho it’s impossible to find anything that quite hits the same way as it, even in the NIN discog. nothing else quite has the reckless abandon and specific kind of sonic landscaping that TDS possesses imo, and it’s part of what’s made it rise to the top of their catalog for me after years of ranking The Fragile as my fav.
Asking because I know nothing about Halsey - do you say “their” because this is a band and not just her as solo artist or does Halsey prefer to use they/them pronouns?
My most prized possession from my youth is my release-day double album of The Fragile so I can definitely see where you’re coming from. If anyone gets into NIN (and by extension HEALTH) via Halsey that’s be so fucking sick.
tbh as a trans person I myself even find it deeply difficult to not consistently refer to someone who uses multiple pronouns with one of them consistently. I am also neurodivergent and that probably doesn’t help matters much. it’s legitimately confusing to me and I would rather default to the neutral pronoun if I am trying to be as respectful as possible (as long as that’s one of the options they use) as it’s, well, neutral. also, have known a lot of people who have used she/they or he/they who were mostly doing so bc they were just too afraid to ask people to exclusively use they/them. also, Halsey having spoken up about an interviewer using only she during an interview kinda skews things too. I can sympathize with a journalist or editor in this situation bc I can imagine using multiple pronouns interchangeably could make things confusing to the average reader. not to say that it should come at the artists expense or the journalist was in the right but even as a trans person it can get disorienting.
For what it’s worth, the more people / publications that use they/them pronouns to refer to Halsey, the more mainstream and accepting it becomes. They’re one of the biggest pop stars in the world. Someone who doesn’t understand non-binary identities may read an article where H is referred to as such and be led to understand gender more. Same goes for a closeted person feeling alone in their feelings of gender and realizing there are powerful people like them.
Halsey got rather upset when an article about them used only she pronouns not long ago so I think they is more preferred
I am not as familiar with Halsey as this was my entry point to their work, so when I read a lot of the coverage I assumed “they” was referring to Reznor and Atticus. I liked that Pitchfork made a point to mention that “they” was one of Halsey’s preferred pronouns.
same for me and/or that Halsey was a band not a solo artist, which is why I asked and glad I did! Thanks for the info for everyone who responded.
As a non-binary person who uses he/they pronouns, I still get my own pronouns confused all of the time. I kinda hate the singular "they" but I think it's more socially tolerated than neopronouns so I use "they" anyways. I can't fault anyonr for messing them up.