Halsey Announces New Album Celebrating Pregnancy and Childbirth With NSFW Photo

Halsey has made an announcement about her new album, revealing the NSFW photo used for the cover, which is meant to celebrate “pregnancy and childbirth.” The cover features the singer sitting on a golden throne, with a child on her lap, and one breast exposed. The image appears to be intended to pay homage to the Melun Diptych, an iconic painting of the Madonna and the Christ Child as created by Jean Fouquet around 1452. Click here to see the photo on her Instagram!

Halsey previously announced her pregnancy, and it seems unlikely that the child she holds is her own, but it is ultimately unclear at this time if she gave birth and kept it a secret. The “New Americana” singer has been dating screenwriter Alev Aydin for some time now, and in January she announced that she was pregnant with their first child. In a lengthy caption on her post, Halsey explained the inspiration for the new album — titled If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power — and its cover image.

“This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth,” she wrote. “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.”

She added, “This cover image celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired. We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!” Halsey concluded her caption by announcing that the new album, her fourth, will be released on Aug. 27.

In a previous Instagram post, Halsey revealed that her new album was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the creative minds behind industrial metal act Nine Inch Nails. For the past decade, the pair have been producing movie scores, which has led to a number of awards. To date, Reznor and Ross have a total of 48 award nominations and 17 wins from their work scoring films such as The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Soul.