Singer-songwriter Halsey explores the intersection between love and illness in an emotional ballad called “The End,” released Tuesday as the first single from her upcoming, as-yet-untitled, fifth album.
Following the success of 2021’s “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power,” the Grammy nominee’s newest track reflects on a fraught health struggle and a relationship fraught with questions of mortality.
Halsey previewed its release on Instagram earlier this week and confirmed it in her latest post on the social media platform, which included videos of the artist’s own medical battle, which she has not previously spoken about publicly. Although Halsey did not explicitly name a specific illness in the original post, a second post shared on Wednesday said she was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE, as well as “a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder” in 2022.
“Both diseases are in treatment or remission; and both will be with me for the rest of my life,” the singer wrote in the caption. “After a rough start, I slowly got everything under control with the help of amazing doctors. 2 years later, I feel better and I’m more grateful for music than ever. I can’t wait to get back to where I’m meant to be: with all of you.”
Halsey, who uses “she/they” pronouns, thanked fans for their support in the 24 hours since revealing her health tests.
“Small thing is I’m lucky to be alive. Small thing is I wrote an album. It starts with The End. It’s available now,” Halsey posted on Instagram on Tuesday. The first slide shows Halsey massaging her calves in pain while one of her arms is wrapped in medical tape.
“Literally, I feel like an old woman,” Halsey says in that video. “I told myself I’m giving myself two more years to get sick. At 30, I’m being reborn and I won’t get sick and I’ll look hot and I’ll have so much energy. And I’m going to relive my 20s in my 30s.”
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The post includes another video of Halsey sitting in an infusion chair and wearing a face mask. Halsey says to the camera that “Today is day one of treatment,” followed by another video detailing various visits to the hospital that appear to be recorded over a period of time.
A press statement released with the release of the new album “The End” stated that in conjunction with its release, Halsey is making donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Lupus Research Alliance. Halsey tagged both organizations in the caption of her Instagram post.
Leukemia and lymphoma are different cancers, one of the blood and the other of the lymphatic system. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissues. It can potentially affect the joints, skin, circulation and multiple organs. According to the National Institutes of Health, T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders can manifest in a variety of ways, including various forms of leukemia and lymphoma.
“Now every two years a doctor says I’m sick / Comes up with a new trick / And then they teach me all this / And first, it was my brain, then a skeleton in pain / And I don’t like to complain, but I’m sorry,” Halsey sings in the opening line of “The End.”
Halsey has spoken openly about a variety of health issues in the past, including being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Sjogren’s syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome or MCAS, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS in 2022. At the time, Halsey said doctors were still searching for the root cause related to autoimmunity.
This story has been updated to reflect that Halsey used the pronouns “she” and “they.”
