Halsey – Ya’aburnee | Lyrics Meaning Explained

“Ya’aburnee” is the thirteenth and final track on Halsey’s ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ album’s standard edition. This song is a sweet tribute to her newborn baby daughter and her partner. The song gets both emotional and deep over several personal topics from past and present in Halsey’s life. Let’s dive into the meaning of this song.

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.”

According to Apple Music, the song title “Ya’aburnee” is Arabic for ‘you bury me.’ It is interesting to find such a grim title to a song about love to the singer’s partner and daughter. The idea for the title of the song is that death is inevitable and unexpected.

Listen to “Ya’aburnee” by Halsey

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Halsey “Ya’aburnee” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review

In an Instagram Livestream, Halsey explained the writing process of the song; “It didn’t take me a long time, but I thought about it the most.” This is most likely due to the sensitive topics she touches in the song.

Halsey starts off the first verse by singing that she often feels sad about the moments she did not get to spend with her child. This is most likely her referring to the miscarriage she had in 2016. Although she is a new mother in 2021, that experience from a few years ago must still haunt her.

In the chorus of the song, Halsey gets even more vulnerable and open;

And if we don’t live forever
Maybe one day, we’ll trade places
Darling, you will bury me
Before I bury you

Death is the cruel reality of life. Losing a child is nothing any parent wants to endure. Halsey can only hope that she leaves this world before she buries another child of hers. If it ever comes to a life-and-death situation between her and her daughter, Halsey will gladly bite the dust for her child.

Even in the second verse, Halsey reveals how her past memories press against her throat like a sharp knife at times. She feels her body freeze and all her demons come crashing down.

Towards the latter part of this verse, Halsey talks to her partner. She sings to him that she is a lot of baggage to take up on. She is filled with insecurity, doubt, self-destructive behavior, and the works. She needs someone who can help her battle these demons. Halsey even drops a hint that she is ready to be married to this person. She swears to give him everything she has to offer.

Themes of horror and grim run all throughout this album by Halsey as she explained before. We can only attempt to understand the emotions she went through during her pregnancy and work on this album at the same time.

Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.