In 1967, the essay ‘The Death of the Author’ revolutionized the way the public dialogues with art, recognizing it as open to interpretation, not closed to the intention of its author. This innovation in critical thinking partly explains why Halsey has taken the suspense of her new album, ‘The Great Impersonator’, on Pitchfork phenomenally… unlike a few years ago.
Pitchfork has rated ‘The Great Impersonator’ with a 4.8 out of 10. In his review, journalist Shaad D’Souza argues that Halsey offers an album of boring songs and confusing concepts. Halsey, who had compiled the first reviews of the album, most of them positive, in a previous poster, has responded more strongly than ever by launching a second manipulated review poster in which she takes phrases from the Pitchfork text out of context, giving it a misleading -and funny- back to the original review.
“Thank you to Pitchfork for your kind words. It’s nice that everyone interprets things differently,” the artist notes ironically. The poster only highlights positive phrases from the Pitchfork review, no negative ones. On purpose or inadvertently, Halsey highlights Pitchfork’s work by showing that her review, although mostly negative, is balanced and cannot be reduced to pure “hate.” A failure is worth the same as a 10 from Clash Magazine.
Even so, some Halsey fans have taken Pitchfork’s criticism as pure hate and have begun harassing Shaad D’Souza on social media, calling him a “misogynist” and a “faggot.” The journalist has been forced to block his networks. Halsey has given rise to harassment by incorporating the journalist’s name on the poster, emphasizing that D’Souza’s is a solitary, exceptional opinion, different from that of the majority of media outlets that have received the album with enthusiasm.
As in many songs on ‘The Great Impersonator’, Halsey takes her victim role to the extreme in her response to Pitchfork and turns it into a pop moment… as was her attack on Pitchfork a few years ago for their review of ‘Manic’ (2020). Halsey then called for the “demolishing” of the Pitchfork offices, unaware of the connection of these offices to 9/11. Then she was the one humiliated; We assume that now he demands revenge. We hope you don’t see the 1 out of 10 that Anthony Fantano has given you…
thank you @pitchfork for your kind words.
I think it’s so beautiful that everyone interprets things differently 🤍⭐️ pic.twitter.com/AwAZCBNEyC— h (@halsey) October 30, 2024
