No, Halsey's Trauma is Not 'Main Character Syndrome'

Halsey has had a very tough few years. She gave birth to her son in 2021, and then was diagnosed with a variety of health issues, including lupus and T-cell disorder. Her record label dropped her after her last album (and one of her most experimental) underperformed, and she faced a lot of cruelty online from people claiming to be her fans. It led to her admitting she regretted coming back into the spotlight because the abuse was so harsh.

Her newest album, The Great Impersonator, was made while she was dealing with potentially lethal health issues. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she even admitted that this could be ‘the last album [she] ever made.’ So far, reviews have been roundly positive. Two counter-examples, however, have gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

Pitchfork, the music website that is notorious for some of its more, ahem, pointed reviews, gave it 4.8 out of 10, and suggesting that Halsey was manipulating her fans to position herself as a martyr and victim. It’s a strangely mean review that seems devoid of a lot of context. In one bit, the reviewer says, ‘Does Halsey see absolutely no irony in claiming she bears the weight of millions of fans’ expectations before, 40-odd minutes later, reducing her own output to “a couple diamonds”?’ That seems like a pretty standard metaphor for self-loathing to me. Plus, Halsey has received a lot of flack over the years from her own fans that was vocal enough to receive wider press coverage. That certainly seems like a lot of weight on her shoulders.

Halsey responded to the review on Twitter. Usually, I’m pretty icky about artists responding to negative reviews because it’s needlessly petty and benefits nobody. It typically ends poorly and just makes you seem like a bully. That being said, hoo boy, I get why she’d be pissed at Pitchfork declaring her suffering to be self-centered.

thank you @pitchfork for your kind words.
I think it’s so beautiful that everyone interprets things differently 🤍⭐️ pic.twitter.com/AwAZCBNEyC

— h (@halsey) October 30, 2024

Then there’s Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop, arguably the most popular music critic on YouTube. He gave The Great Impersonator 1 out of 10 — yikes — and said that Halsey’s lyrics were overdramatic and a sign of ‘main character energy.’ Uh, yeah? It’s an album about her life and worrying she’s going to die and leave her son without a mother?

No artist is owed great reviews, of course, regardless of how personal or earnest their work is. If people don’t like The Great Impersonator, that’s fine. But you have to wonder about the mindset that leads someone to listen to an album and declare that the artist is being too self-centered by talking about their experiences through their lyrics. Are you familiar with the history of the medium, good sir?

There’s something strangely obtuse in both of these reviews that evokes much of the criticism female artists get about their confessional work. It’s all too common to see criticism of female songwriters being selfish or egotistical for talking about their lives. Fantano once described Megan thee Stallion as jumping on the mental health bandwagon in one of her songs where she rapped about her anxiety issues stemming from grieving the loss of her parents. Even the all-time greats like Joni Mitchell faced this crap.

Nobody’s saying these critics should change their reviews to positive scores. The issue here is the ways in which this obtuse mindset leads people to listen to someone talking about almost dying and claim she’s got ‘main character syndrome.’ It speaks of something beyond the act of reviewing one album, an incurious and oft-misogynistic mindset that belittles women’s ideas as frivolous while men’s are elevated to universally important (Halsey uses she/her and they/them pronouns.)

Writing stuff like this always feels treacherous because us critics get enough crap for just doing our jobs and stans using subjective reviews as a punching bag for their fandom agendas is exhausting. Believe me, I’ve been there and have the angry threatening emails to prove it. But I do think we should call out our contemporaries when they fall into such potholes of sexism and straight-up meanness.

Check out Halsey’s visuals for this album. Nailed it.

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