Halsey was "too scared" to release songs about her father on her earlier albums.
For her new album, The Great Impersonator, the Without Me singer decided to include Hurt Feelings, a song about her "pretty complicated" relationship with her dad Chris Frangipane.
Halsey, who uses she/they pronouns, said on the Call Her Daddy podcast, "I've written a song about my dad every single album and every single time, just when we get to the time when where we're deciding the track list, I cut the songs. I'm like, 'I can't do it. I'm too scared, I'm too scared, I'm too scared.'
"And this time I didn't and I put it on the album and that was like a moment for me where I was like, 'OK, this is something I have kept private, but now I feel ready to like get out (it) there.' I feel like I have a responsibility, kind of."
Halsey later added that they kept putting the song off on previous albums because they felt they had "more time" but this time around they felt there "might not be a next album (so) put it out, speak your truth".
On Hurt Feelings, the singer illustrates how tense they and their mother became whenever Chris returned home from work.
In the second verse, she sings, "You know my father isn't dead, but it don't feel like he's still here/ It's strange now that he's grey and getting older by the day/ And my eyes tell me that he's harmless despite what my heart has to say."
They explained on the podcast that they grew up in a "volatile" household and their relationship with their father changed when they found success at 19 and became the family's breadwinner.
The Graveyard hitmaker, real name Ashley Frangipane, noted that it was "conflicting on an existential level" for him having his daughter support the family and "it definitely showed up in our relationship and it's affected it since".
The Great Impersonator was released on 26 October.
