“Are you serious? I put out an experimental concept album about nearly dying—and now they’re acting like those numbers are a flop?” Halsey said of her latest record, The Great Impersonator, during a recent interview, as she opened up about the sales figures her label reportedly deems a “failure.”

The singer is finally explaining why fans haven’t gotten new music from her since her 2024 album dropped. In a conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Halsey claimed her record label is barring her from making a new album, all because of how The Great Impersonator performed commercially.

“I can’t work on a new album right now—I’m not allowed to,” Halsey told Lowe. “That’s the truth. The Great Impersonator didn’t do as well as they thought it would, so they’re holding it back.”

She didn’t hold back when breaking down the numbers, either: “Let me be real with you—The Great Impersonator sold 100,000 copies in its first week. That’s a huge first week, especially for an artist who hasn’t had a massive hit in a while.”

Halsey also pointed to her recent tour success to back up her point: “My tour right now is the highest-selling one of my entire career. But they keep wanting Manic-level numbers from me. Everyone does. I can’t hit that mark every single time.” She was referencing her 2020 album, a commercial standout. “It should be enough that I’ve done it once, y’know? That I had that moment.”

Lowe seemed to echo her frustration, chiming in, “It should be enough.”

“But it’s not,” Halsey shot back. “For most artists, 100,000 albums in the first week would be a success story—especially now, when physical music barely sells, and I had no radio hits, no big push behind it. But for them? It’s a failure… because it’s not up to the standard of success I had before.”

She added that her past as a pop star makes the pressure even harder: “That’s the worst part of having been a pop star once—I’m not one anymore, but they’re still comparing me to people I don’t even see as my peers.” She referenced the era when she and Ariana Grande were both vying for No. 1 on the charts with their hits “Without Me” and “Thank U Next,” respectively.

“We weren’t ‘fighting,’ though—we were texting each other the whole time. We loved it. That era was the best, honestly,” Halsey recalled, smiling as she described the experience as “amazing.”

“But now? If my album sells 100,000 copies first week—with no radio play, no real support—and they’re like, ‘Why isn’t she doing Taylor Swift numbers?’ Are you kidding me? I made an experimental album about almost dying. I’m never gonna hit those numbers, but I’m doing really well. Those are strong numbers—they still land me in the top 10 first weeks for female artists. But it’s not enough because I’m not the pop star I used to be.”

Even amid the label’s apparent disappointment, Halsey took a moment to praise her fans for standing by her. “I love them—God bless them. They’re the only reason I can even make music like this anymore, the only reason an experimental concept album about death can sell 100,000 copies in a week. Their support means everything.”

The Great Impersonator, Halsey’s fifth studio album, arrived in October 2024 and marked her first release with Columbia Records—she parted ways with Capitol Records back in 2020. As she noted, the album is a deeply personal concept project that addresses her recent health struggles: In 2024, Halsey revealed she’d been diagnosed with lupus and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder in 2022.

Earlier this year, from May to June, Halsey embarked on her For My Last Trick tour, which tied into The Great Impersonator and was widely considered a success. Next month, she’ll kick off her sixth headlining tour, Back to Badlands, celebrating the 10th anniversary of her debut album, 2015’s Badlands.