In a recent interview, Halsey complained about not being accepted as “alternative” enough, saying that there’s a double standard when it comes to pop music:

Kendrick [Lamar] has done a Maroon 5 feature, a Taylor Swift feature and a Sia feature — which is more pop features than I’ve done. No one’s calling him a pop star. But I’m being called one, even though I’m inherently an alternative artist. I don’t know if it’s a male thing, I don’t know if it’s an urban thing. I don’t know what it is. But if you’re a female alternative artist and you do anything that’s even slightly pop leaning, it’s condemning.

[…] The lengths that Lady Gaga has to go to to maintain her cred as an artist of the counterculture are insane. If she does anything that’s even slightly too-pop people are going to be like ‘she sold out. She’s a pop artist.’ Kendrick Lamar can get on a Taylor Swift song and no one calls him a popstar, but Lady Gaga has to wear raw meat!

Someone on Twitter pointed out that no one calls Kendrick a pop star because he’s, well, a rapper, and Halsey found the tweet and responded:

The point wasn't even about me. The point was how it's harder for female artists to maintain counterculture because they get boxed into pop https://t.co/vHdZ36AjvW

— h (@halsey) May 18, 2017

not saying anything bad about pop music. the convo was abt how pop features shouldnt consume an artist who's solo ventures are another genre https://t.co/UxQNaD34Aj

— h (@halsey) May 18, 2017

I don't care how I'm categorized. That part of the interview was just a discussion about genre & how females r more likely 2 get labeled pop

— h (@halsey) May 18, 2017

As long as I get to make music I'm happy. 🌹

— h (@halsey) May 18, 2017

Well, OK then! Halsey has a new album coming out in a few weeks. The singles we’ve heard so far will probably guarantee that we’ll be thinking of her as “alternative” for a long time to come, if we’re even thinking about her at all.