“Girl is a Gun” by Halsey

“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” is in fact a bona fide concept album, as Halsey has stated. Or in the very least, it does a good job of regurgitating the same themes throughout. And the song “Girl is a Gun” actually encapsulates a couple of them.

One, as the title is meant to metaphorically relay, is the idea of the vocalist being a woman who does not take defeat, despite some aspects of her life being very much less than ideal. And more to the point said aspect within this piece, which brings us to the second recurrent theme found in “Girl Is a Gun”, is her romantic life.

That is to say that as with other tracks on the album, such as “You Asked for This”, Halsey depicts herself as an individual stricken with a serious case of serial monogamy, if you will. However, one notable difference is that this time around, once again staying true to the title of the song, it’s as if she ain’t really sweating it and indeed comes off as being in control of the situation, picking and choosing whom to be with as she will. 

Also, it doesn’t seem, based on this presentation, that the vocalist is a victim of circumstance, i.e. being unable to find true love. Instead, whereas it does seem that she desires such, at the same time Halsey is feeling carefree enough to admit that ‘having more than one’, lover we would presume, is in fact “fun”. 

So similar to yet another track from the album, “Bells in Santa Fe“, in the first verse she’s telling these various dudes whom she hooks up with, in her own colorful way, that she’s not really interested in anything long term.

Conclusion of “Girl Is a Gun”

So in a way, we can say that this is one of the more realistic songs on the aforementioned album. In other tracks contained therein dealing with this topic, the vocalist is put forth more as a victim of circumstance, someone who is sleeping around because, well, no one truly cares for her. 

However, in “Girl Is a Gun”, she is able to confidently admit how such a modus operandi has its personal pleasures also. And no, we’re not going as far as to actually assert that the singer prefers the casual dating life over marriage. 

But the thesis sentiment of this piece seems to be that if she must contend with the former she’s going to master the situation, not vice versa.

Credits and Release Date

The credited authors of this song are Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and John Cunningham, as well as Halsey herself. And the first two artists on the list also produced “Girl Is a Gun”.

This song is the fifth track on the playlist of the aforenoted “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power”. This is the Halsey undertaking which Capitol Records released on 27 August 2021, less than two years after her last studio album, 2020’s Manic.