Halsey
Halsey (Photo: Courtesy of Halsey/Loveandpower.com)

If you thought last week’s video revealing the cover of Halsey’s upcoming album was breathtaking, wait until you see the clip she just dropped today! Produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is, by all indications, a dark meditation on pregnancy and birth. Today’s trailer for the accompanying short film of the same name gives us our best indication yet of just how dark the album is going to be.

Directed by Colin Tilley—who has made videos for Megan Thee Stallion, Machine Gun Kelly and Justin Bieber as well as commercials for Balmain and Yves Saint Laurent—and written by Halsey, the hour long film will premiere in IMax theaters around the world next month. The trailer starts off with a message warning viewers of the graphic images ahead, before plunging into scenes of medieval darkness and decadence set to one of Halsey’s menacing new tracks.

The film seems to follow the travails of a young widow, mourning the loss of her lord and struggling to retain control of his domain as she awaits the birth of her child—and possibly descends into madness? And is possibly haunted by a malevolent spirit who looks just like her?

“This film is about the lifelong social labyrinth of sexuality and birth,” reads an onscreen message at the beginning of the trailer. “The greatest horror stories never told were buried with the bodies of those who died in that labyrinth…”

That echoes the statement Halsey released last week along with the album cover reveal: “This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully. My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being.”

It looks like Halsey’s character in the film will be on a similar journey toward reclaiming her power. But as she sings over dreamlike images of violence and revelry, “It’s not a happy ending.”

Tickets for the IMax screenings go on sale August 3.