When it comes to Halsey (née Ashley Frangipane) and G-Eazy (née Gerald Gillum), their complicated relationship is sometimes better explained by music than anything else.
The duo started their co-relationship/career with the song "Him & I" this summer. After a few on-again/off-again moments, Halsey released the track "Without Me," a song that is dedicated to their relationship. The track sounded like a breakup anthem, but, at the time of the song's release, the couple appeared to be back together. Last week, the couple reportedly broke up again.
The latest development in the relationship is the music video for "Without Me," which was released today. Still following?
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The music video is defiantly, loudly about her relationship with G-Eazy. It even features a G-Eazy lookalike. The music video tells a familiar tale where a couple falls into a heated, sexy relationship. In the video, the couple chugs whiskey and gets into intense fights. At one point, Halsey nurses her partner after he earns himself a black eye (It's not clear who administered the injury.). The video ends somewhat mysteriously with the G-Eazy stand-in being placed in the back of a police car. Meanwhile, Halsey, who was also getting hassled by police officers, is not arrested. She glares at him as if to say, "Didn't I tell you this would happen?"
This follows the Star is Born narrative that Halsey has been presenting for the past few weeks. To be clear: Halsey has never suggested that G-Eazy is in the same state as musician Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) from the movie (Maine is a troubled alcoholic with tinnitus.). But Halsey said before the American Music Awards this year that, after seeing the movie, she identified with Gaga's Ally.
"I was talking to people a lot about this ever since I've seen A Star Is Born," she told interviewer Jessie James Decker on the red carpet. "I think that sometimes people make you feel bad for being 'dramatic.' But part of being an artist is wanting to be dramatic. Maybe Halsey is like the done-up star with the dancers and the costumes and whatever else, and Ashley is a little more reserved, the writer, a little more quiet."
Days later, Halsey sent out two cryptic dispatches about needing to feel both happiness and pain. She wrote, "reminder to self: happiness is not a replacement for misery." Which, again, isn't to say that Halsey and G-Eazy are living emblems of Jackson and Ally, but — just a thought — maybe the fame monster eats up both fictional stars and real stars.