“You Asked for This” by Halsey
On “You Asked for This”, Halsey seems to be taking a blame-the-victim approach. And unfortunately, said victim would be the vocalist herself. In other words, the titular “you”, i.e. the addressee, appears to be the selfsame singer.
And what it is she “asked for” would be romance. So it’s almost as if, in layman’s terms, Halsey is kicking herself for being stupid enough to believe that a certain relationship would work out.
Or rather, let’s say relationships. And why? This is because based on the colorful terminology utilized during the latter part of the second verse for instance, it would appear that the vocalist is trapped in a cycle of meaningless, ultimately unfulfilling casual-sex romances.
So concerning the self-victimization attitude mentioned above, what the singer is actually doing is challenging herself to be “a big girl” and retain her confidence as opposed to being devastated by this less-than-ideal aspect of her life.
That is to say that in fact being a “big girl”, she knew the risks of the game before stepping into the arena. So ultimately, from Halsey’s perspective, she can’t allow bad romantic luck, if you will, to destroy her entire outlook on life.
So out of all the songs on the album, this may be the one that best encapsulates the “if I can’t have love [then] I want power” philosophy. Because as revealed in the outro, the vocalist indeed desires true love, including all of the turmoil that goes along with it. But in the meantime, being devoid of such until who knows when, she intends to remain a boss b*tch nonetheless.
Credits for “You Asked for This”
As with just about every other song on “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power”, this one was also produced by these names:
- Atticus Ross
- Trent Reznor
Both producers also co-wrote the song with Halsey and Greg Kurstin.
When was “You Asked for This” released?
The track was put out by Capitol Records alongside its album (“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power”) on 27 August 2021.
There are a number of singles on the album. This track is officially one of them. Another one is the hit song “I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God“.
Below are some other outstanding songs birthed by “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power”:
- “Yaáburnee”
- “Whispers”
- “Bells in Santa Fe”
- “Lilith”
- “Girl Is a Gun”
- “Easier than Lying”
- “The Tradition”
