Halsey took the opportunity and expressed her frustrations at her record label in her latest TikTok on Sunday morning. In the Tik tok video she informed her fans that her label is resisting from releasing one of the songs which “I love” for marketing reasons. Her words from the stating 29-seconds of the clip was as follows, “Basically, I have a song that I love that I want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me,”.
The TikTok clip she shared apparently had her unreleased track playing in the background and during the clip she had an unpleasant look on her face, she further continued by saying “I’ve been in this industry for more than eight years now and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can’t release [the song] unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”
On demand of a comment or reply on topic from Halsey and their label, Astralwerks/Capitol by various media organisations, they did not responded to. Many people claimed this clip as a publicity propoganda and some even called it the demanded “viral TikTok” by her record label. Thus, the irony of Halsey creating a viral TikTok moment claiming that their label will not release the song without a viral TikTok moment was not lost on observers.
As per recent observations many artists have seen success with the help of the TikTok algorithm, it’s no secret that labels and artist teams have started manufacturing “viral moments” on the platform in order to keep the project in public talks and make a buzz out of the viral clips. In April, the Kid Laroi and his ex-manager Scooter Braun reaped the power of TikTok virality by starting a fake feud in promotion of Laroi’s song “Thousand Miles.”
“Everything is marketing,” concluded while continuing her rant on Tiktok, “and they are doing this to every artist these days. I just want to release music, man and I deserve better tbh. I’m tired.”
Halsey has been signed to her current record label Astralwerks since the year 2014, and this isn’t the first time she made these sort of allegations and like always the label never bothered to reply on any such topics. Last August, Halsey took aim at record labels and the media in an interview about her latest album “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.” The singer-songwriter, who had recently welcomed their first child, commented sardonically on what was apparently the label’s reaction to the pregnancy.
“You have to call the CEO of X, Y, Z and say, ‘Hey, hi. I’m just calling to let you know, I’m pregnant. I didn’t want you to find out on Instagram. I wanted to tell you myself, personally. It’s still business as usual over here though, don’t worry,’” Halsey told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “My personal choice isn’t going to affect your profitability or your productivity or your assembly line. And also, in what world would you ever have to call me to tell me that you were having a baby? But I have to call you because it impacts your product.’”