“I am not a woman, I’m a god” is the eleventh track on Halsey’s 2021 album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.’ In this song, Halsey finds herself bouncing off of extremes–from god-like to human, from legend to fraud, and being a saint and a devil.
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 song’s back-and-forth nature may allude to the bipolar nature of Halsey. Throughout the lyrics, she talks about her saint-like and vicious demeanor. The music video for the song features footage from Halsey’s IMAX experience documentary for the album and features a pregnant Halsey.
Listen to “I am not a woman, I’m a god” by Halsey
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Halsey “I am not a woman, I’m a god” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
In the chorus of the song, Halsey lays out some contrasting features about her. She sings that she is not a woman, but a god, not a martyr, but a problem, not a legend, but a fraud, and so on. These are opposites and do not necessarily align with each other. This may be the best example of her bipolar disorder.
Although Halsey sings that she wears a smile on her face, her actions suit that of a person wearing a frown. She has a couple of bodies in her yard. Why? We do not know. These could be a reference to her past lovers and competitors who went against her. Every one of them met with the same fate.
Maybe I could be a different human in a new place
She very well could start off a new life in a new place, but she did not so far. She might not, at all. Being numb to the world around her, she wants to feel something. Maybe moving to a new place will help. Maybe she is not fixable!
Even in the second verse, Halsey sings “Maybe I could be a better human with a new name.” All the lyrics hint at an impending new beginning. But there is no guarantee that grass is greener on the other side.
Towards the end of the song, Halsey decides that she is better off where she is right now. The only adjustment she is going to make to her life is that she is going to isolate herself from the world around her. No more lovers and no more heartache.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.
Really well written, and relatable.