New artist vs. critic beef just dropped, everyone. This time it’s between indie-pop star Halsey and YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano of the long-running channel The Needle Drop. Not so surprising on either front, if we’re being honest.
In 2020, Halsey notoriously called for “the basement that they run [Pitchfork] out of” to “just collapse already”. She tweeted the reaction after a middling review of her album Manic. Halsey deleted the tweet after being publicly reminded that the Pitchfork offices were located in One World Trade Center in New York. Meanwhile, Fantano has often drawn the ire of his own fans for what they feel are tone-deaf reviews. Which is pretty par for the course of music criticism anyway.
All this to say, Fantano has the right to say what he wants about Halsey’s album The Great Impersonator. But Halsey also has the right to defend her album. However, the plot inevitably gets lost, without fail.
Allegedly, this latest discourse kicked off on June 21, 2026, with a post on Twitter/X commenting on the 2024 review. The Twitter user stated that they “didn’t really agree with how Fantano approached some aspects” of the album. But, they also admitted that they “can’t understand how there’s still discourse about it all this time later.”
The post added, “It’s not like it’s some great album… how are people still hung up over it.”
Fantano replied to that final query, writing, “If they’re more into the review than the album.”
Halsey Responds to Critical Review of Her Deeply Personal 2024 Album
Halsey responded on Twitter/X in defense of her album. Notably, she mentioned the fact that it was written in response to her health struggles. In 2022, Halsey was diagnosed with lupus and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, and subsequently went through chemotherapy. She documented some of her health issues on social media. However, much of her state of mind was explored in The Great Impersonator.
In The Needle Drop review, Anthony Fantano felt that the album suffered from “main character syndrome”. As for Halsey’s response to the resurgence of the review, she hit back by calling it “whiny” and “edgy”. Allegedly in reference to Fantano’s original criticisms.
“Who cares he gave a bad review? I care that a pay-for-clicks reaction YouTuber can facade as a pro critic and say it’s ‘main character syndrome’ for an artist to lament her medical suffering on an album (surprise!) about her own life,” Halsey added. She also called him an “edgelord bully”.
The arguments seem to come from a misinterpretation of Fantano’s negative review. Instead of being a critical assessment of the production, it’s been twisted into a misogynistic attack on women with health issues. The deterioration of media literacy apparently extends to understanding album reviews.
“Being a woman dealing with serious health issues often means being afraid of telling the truth about the pain you’re in because you’re afraid of not being believed or seeming attention seeking,” Halsey continued. “He validated that fear to thousands of women.”
Anthony Fantano Defends the Original Intention of His Negative Review
Speaking to Variety on June 22, Anthony Fantano defended his review of Halsey’s album and also cleared up the misrepresentation. Apparently, this has been a persistent response to his video: that his dislike of the album was because of Halsey’s illness.
“That I specifically attacked this album and tore it apart because there’s some cartoonishly evil characteristic about me that somehow just singled this album out because of who she is or the illness that she suffered during that time in her life that inspired the record, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
He added that the reality behind the album’s inspiration had nothing to do with the negative review. Instead, it had “everything to do with how bad I feel her various takes on inspirations that she tries to pull from and impersonate are, and how weak the songwriting is.”
“I’m Not the Devil Himself for Not Enjoying this Album,” Says Anthony Fantano
Fantano continued, “You don’t have to agree with me… But one thing I can’t stand by and allow to happen is this performative act where people want to act like I’m Satan incarnate for not liking this album, which I’m not.”
Is an album based on personal traumas inherently free from criticism? What happens to us culturally when we start policing critical reviews based on content? If a critic believes an album doesn’t work, shouldn’t they be allowed to say that, despite the personal nature of the songwriting?
When critics lose the freedom to express negative opinions of an album based on careful consideration through a professional lens, we sink further into Swiftie Hell. There, it’s totally fine to send death threats to journalists because they dared to say anything negative about Taylor’s latest album. Making music critics live in fear of online backlash for doing their jobs? Sounds totally normal! In times like this, let us ruminate on the words of Australia’s premier philosopher, Kevin Parker: “The less I know, the better.”
The post Halsey and Anthony Fantano Are Cage Fighting in Music Criticism Hell, and It’s Getting Weirder by the Tweet appeared first on VICE.
