“Easier Than Lying” is the third track on Halsey’s 2021 album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.’ Keeping the horror-core theme of the album at its peak, Halsey sings about losing love–be it from her partner or from her fans towards her music.
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.”
In “Easier Than Lying,” Halsey says it’s easier to lose ‘you’ than lying to herself that they still love her. Here, ‘you’ can be interpreted in several ways. The most popular themes are that of a lover (romance) and that of her music (love from her fans). The meaning behind the song is that Halsey would much rather let go of her lover or her career if she feels as if they don’t love her back. Living a life of lies is soul-breaking.
Listen to “Easier Than Lying” by Halsey
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Halsey “Easier Than Lying” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Halsey starts off the song by saying that she is whatever ‘you’ make her be. This can be mostly related to her career which she has been singing about throughout the album. She has been repeatedly saying that she has been molded into the Halsey persona by the industry and she might not be liking it. Every day that she has to live this lie, she becomes more and more villainous.
Halsey also says “Whatever you give to me, from yourself, you take.” This can directly relate to the music industry which can make and break an artist. The same logic applies to toxic relationships. However, with this lyric, Halsey also introduces a slight religious undertone to the song. “Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
In the next line, Halsey completes the injection of the religious theme by saying if you are a hater of her, hate the Creator (God), because she is created in the Creator’s image. Halsey might be hinting at her sexuality, which she has openly admitted to being bisexual, being a topic of controversy in religious texts. If people are made in the image of God, and if God made her bisexual, how can God consider bisexuality a sin?!
‘Cause I gave myself away for you
You liar, you don’t love me too
The chorus is open to any or all of the themes Halsey has been bringing in so far into this song. She feels betrayed by the same things/people that she used to put her faith on. This can be about love, religion, her music, and any number of other topics.
In the second verse of the song, Halsey sings how she has a hole inside of her heart where her soul used to be. After years of being betrayed, kicked down, molded into something she is not, and hated on, Halsey has no more warm blood running through her heart arteries. It’s all dead and cold. It still longs for some attention and love, though. This is why her heart beats so loud at the slightest sign of affection. But she knows not to get too excited at this point.
But it beats harder every time you come around
But do you love the sound?
In literature, a person’s heartbeat is the imprint of their persona and soul. So, to love someone’s heartbeat is to love them for who they are. Halsey wonders who loves her for who she is, her sexuality, her ideas, her music, her philosophies!
She also knows that it is much better to let go of something or someone not in sync with the beat of her heart. It’s easier to let go and get burnt once than to live a lie and keep burning for a lifetime.
Do you like her sound? Let us hear your thoughts on the song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.