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in spite of Halsey claims she had Britney Spears’ approval She was asked to include “Lucky” on her latest single, but, at least according to Spears, the courtesy didn’t extend to the music video.
Spears took to social media this afternoon to criticize the Gia Coppola-directed music video. Halsey‘s new single pays homage to her 2000 single “Lucky.” She said she felt “harassed, violated and bullied” by Halsey’s interpretation of the video, which made her seem like a “superficial pop star.”
“I am extremely upset by Halsey’s video, for obvious reasons,” Spears wrote. “I feel harassed, violated and bullied. I never expected an artist like her, someone I respect and admire, to portray me in such an ignorant way as a superficial pop star with no heart or consideration. I am also experiencing health issues of my own, so I deleted my Instagram account yesterday and will definitely reactivate it now to show that I care. I am speaking with my attorney today to see what can be done about this. I feel it is illegal and downright cruel.”
When a fan asked on social media last week about including it in the original song, Halsey wrote, “Of course! I would never dream of doing that without her permission!”
But the reviews fell short of the video, which takes inspiration from Spears’ original and touches on the pop star’s darker side. The story follows the duality of a young girl who idolizes Halsey as she struggles with love and health issues behind the scenes. Scenes of her getting an IV drip and removing her wig to reveal the shaved head referenced in the lyrics are shown.
“I shaved my head four times because I wanted to, and once more because I got sick,” Halsey sings. “I thought I’d changed so much no one would notice, and no one did, and I left the doctor’s office in tears/A single mom at a premiere/I told everyone I was fine for a year, and that was the biggest lie of my career.”
“Lucky” will appear on Halsey’s fifth studio album, and her first since 2021’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-produced “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.”
