“Girl is a Gun” is the fifth track on Halsey’s 2021 album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.’ In the song, Halsey seems to be talking about being free of all ties and enjoying her freedom. Halsey probably has very few of these of late with her boyfriend, newborn baby, and the album dropping.
Halsey released her fourth studio album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ on August 27, 2021. This is her follow-up project to her highly successful album ‘Manic’ released in 2020. About the new album, Halsey said “This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. It happened by accident. I wasn’t trying to make a political record, or a record that was drowning in its own profundity—I was just writing about how I feel. The reason that the album has sort of this horror theme is because this experience, in a way, has its horrors.”
The title of the song, ‘girl is a gun’ usually alludes to how powerful and dangerous a girl can be, which, in this case, is a reference to Halsey herself. So, she subtly warns everyone who wants a piece of her to be very careful. The title could also be a reference to the 1971 French-made western film, ‘Une aventure de Billy le Kid/A Girl is A Gun,’ which was written and directed by French New Wave filmmaker Luc Moullet. The film follows the famous Western outlaw, Billy The Kid, who was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21.
Listen to “Girl is a Gun” by Halsey
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Halsey “Girl is a Gun” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
In the first verse of the song, Halsey seems to sing about how free she feels without having a partner who constantly breathes down her neck. ‘Hands around the waistline’ happens when two people do a couple dance, often romantically. However, Halsey might not be inclined as such.
Halsey would much rather enjoy her freedom and free will than have her vibe killed by someone who is not on the same wavelength as hers’.
It’s a shot in the dark, I’m not a walk in the park
I come loaded with the safety switched off
Halsey is not an easy plate to gobble up. She sang about her destructive behavior in the previous track on the album, titled “Lilith.” So, maybe Halsey cannot help but spiral any relationship into a world of destruction and toxicity.
In the second verse of the song, Halsey talks about her ‘baby.’ We would not like to think she is talking about her newborn son Ender Ridley.
My newest baby’s testin’ me lately
Makin’ me crazy from mornin’ to evenin’
I cannot take it, I love it, I break it
For her baby or for her lover, these lyrics fit the context perfectly. She could be talking about a new lover in her life (which would be factually inaccurate as Halsey and her boyfriend Alev Aydin have been going steady for over a year and have a baby together).
However, the theme of the song stands the same nonetheless. It seems as if Halsey is more worried about her influence on these people that she brings into her life. She worries about ‘breaking them’ with her nature.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.
ender’s a boy