Watch Halsey Perform Scrappy ‘Now or Never’ on ‘Fallon’
Halsey brought her latest hit, “Now or Never,” to The Tonight Show on Thursday, performing the aching power ballad in front of two large “Make peace” signs and a shrouded religious statue.
Behind the signs, Halsey‘s band – all dressed in white – conjured a swirling, biting sound: a wave of synthesizer and harsh, flat drums that swelled and receded. Halsey paced the stage unhurriedly as she issued an ultimatum to an absent partner. “Baby, I done enough talking,” she sang, before adding, “need to know that you’re mine.”
“Now or Never” climbed to No. 52 on the Hot 100 this week. The song will appear next month on Halsey’s sophomore LP, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. The singer worked on the album with fixtures in the Top 40 pop machine, including Greg Kurstin and Benny Blanco.
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom tracks the slow death of a romantic relationship. “I had killed off a version of myself just so we could make our love work,” Halsey told Rolling Stone. “Sometimes you’re in a relationship for so long and you become a different person.”
Halsey will hit the road this fall in a bill that also brings Charli XCX and PARTYNEXTDOOR to a series of arenas around the U.S. and Canada.