Halsey Finds A New Home With Columbia Records Months After Leaving Capitol Records

Two months after cutting ties with her long-time label, Capitol Music Group, Halsey, who uses she/they pronouns, will be making music under a new record company.

The hitmaker worked with her former partners for about eight years, and towards the end of their partnership, they had a falling out regarding her music.

That was one of many reasons Halsey decided to split, and now, she has signed with Columbia Records, marking the beginning of a promising, new era.

Halsey has some good news for her fans just in time for summer and months after she and Capitol Records went their separate ways. On Wednesday, June 14, Variety confirmed her new deal with Columbia Records, the label behind one of the two major hits of her career — "Closer." 

Fans may be aware that the 28-year-old was featured on the song as a co-lead vocalist with The Chainsmokers, and it rose to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for about 12 weeks in 2016. 

Her other successful hit, "Without Me," reached the No. 1 spot in 2018— five years after she signed with Capitol's Astralwerks imprint in 2013, wasting no time to become the label's "hottest acts." However, that didn't stop their relationship from going sour.

Amid the partnership, Halsey once claimed that one of the company's executives said she was not ready to make an album. To prove them wrong, she asked her followers on Twitter whether they wanted an album, and unsurprisingly she got the response she needed.

Later in 2022, the "Badlands" creator opened up about another tiff with Capitol Records about demands for TikTok content. While the dispute reportedly ended amicably, Halsey's team was already working towards a way out of the partnership. Her last track released through the company was "Die 4 Me," released in February, and is a solo version of a duet featuring Post Malone.

In addition, the "Eastside" songstress created four albums under the company, and all have reached either the top or second spot on the Billboard 200. The first three, "Badlands," "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom," and "Manic," were all certified double-platinum. 

On the other hand, her last album, "If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power," released in August 2021, did not produce the same commercial results, but was a favorite among fans and critics. Earlier in April, Halsey announced the end of her partnership with Capitol Records using a statement through her managers, Jason Aron and Anthony Li.

Per The Blast, the release read, "After eight great years, the decision to leave Capitol is bittersweet, but we are excited about exploring a new partnership and sharing new music with fans."

A representative from the company also confirmed the split via a statement indicating how much effort went into enabling Halsey "achieve their dreams and present their music to the world." The release also highlighted their appreciation of all they achieved over the years as it read, "We are incredibly proud of all we accomplished together, and wish Halsey the best in all their future endeavors."

In the spirit of Pride Month, Halsey had a private performance at the Hard Rock Cafe London at Old Park Lane, where she opened up about her team's concern for her bisexual expression in "Bad at Love."

Per reports, she mentioned her hesitation in wanting the hit to be a single as she knew anything she released after "Closer" would be necessary for how she was perceived as an artist. Although the "Without Me" singer saw the song as "fun" and "really honest," her team feared the lyrics in the second half of the song referencing her same-sex romances would not be received well.

She shared, "There was concern about the lyrics, and mostly everyone was incredibly supportive, but the conversation did come up quite a bit, like, 'I don't know if they're going to play this in middle America."

Halsey got nervous about releasing the single, too, but much to her surprise, it turned out well, peaking at number five on the Billboard Charts.

Following the track's release, she pointed out that no one was concerned about her sexuality, and the song gave her the confidence, to be honest in all her music, "to say whatever I wanted to."