Hailee Steinfeld Drops Highly Anticipated ‘Half Written Story’ EP
Samantha Colleran, May 2020
Hailee Steinfeld just dropped a 5 track EP, the first part of a two part project, the second half is set to release later this year. Although she’s established a name for herself with singles such as “Love Myself” and “Let Me Go” with Alesso featuring Watts and Florida Georgia Line, Hailee has yet to release a full length album due to scheduling with acting roles such as Bumblebee and Apple TV’s Dickinson where she portrays Emily Dickinson, but the EP is a great start to what will hopefully lead to a debut album in the future. Nevertheless, Half Written Story is here, and it’s definitely worth a listen!
The EP starts off with the recently released “I Love You’s”, a rework of Annie Lennox’s “No More I Love You’s”. It’s a triumphant breakup song where she promises to focus on herself and become better from the pain that her heartbreak had caused her. She even promises to buy herself flowers, “And then when they die, I’ll be happy that they got me through”. Sometimes you just need to focus on you, and Hailee lets her audience know that it’s okay to do so, “No more ‘I love you’s until I’m okay”.
Next is “Your Name Hurts”, which starts off with the lyric “We’re a half-written story without any ending”. It’s a more aggressive song, something I definitely wasn’t expecting from Hailee. “Your name hurts (Your name hurts)/ I don’t say it no more/ It’s like the worst of words (Worst of words)” Hailee sings in the chorus with a sweet tone, completely juxtaposing the harsh nature of the song. In the second pre-chorus she even wishes her ex’s mother never had him (ouch) which caught me completely off guard upon my first listen. It’s a great song for an angry breakup, or for when you’re thinking of the one that hurt you so bad you can’t even say their name.
“End this (L.O.V.E.)” puts a spin on the classic “L-O-V-E” everyone knows and loves (pun definitely not intended) and twists the sweet lyrics to fit her breakup. The chorus starts off the song; “L is for the way you lied to me/ O is I’m the only one who sees that/ V, you’re so vindictive, so I’ll be vicious, And E-N-D this L-O-V-E”. It’s a vengeful song, Hailee trying to tell her audience just how bad her ex hurt her, claiming he even “got away with murder” and that “No one’s ever messed [me] up like you did”.
“Man Up” sees Hailee attempt a sort of fast talking/rap verse, where she talks about her whole family hating her ex, even her nonexistent sister. Although the song is called ‘Man Up’, Hailee makes it clear what exactly she means by that; “Just be a man, love/ And I don’t mean society’s version/ I just mean, be a better person”. The song also hints at the possibility of Hailee being cheated on, “Didn’t think I’d learn her name/ Gave you every bit of trust/ I just can’t believe you’d abuse that”.
The EP closes with the song “Wrong Direction” which was released on January 1 of this year. A slow ballad that ends the EP on a somewhat sad note, signifying the end of her relationship, the finality of it all comes tumbling down into a four minute emotional piano driven track. Speaking about the song with Apple Music, Hailee said “I wrote this song at a low point in my life, when I realized I had spent over a year falling in a direction so far from who I was”. It’s certainly a more vulnerable and emotional side of Hailee, a song that twists at your heart and leaves you waiting for a happy ending. Maybe it’ll all turn out alright on her second project?
Half Written Story is available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify now. If I’ve learned anything from listening to this EP it’s to not mess with Miss Steinfeld’s heart. Let me know your favorite song in the comments if you decide to give it a listen!
I love Haliee! Her music suits everyone and I feel like everyone is able to find their song that they can relate to. My favorite song by her off this new EP is Man Up. I feel like it’s a song that many girls can relate to. Love the blog Sam! Keep up the good work 🙂
I love when younger artists take inspiration from the generation who came before them. Also it stinks that Hailee had such a negative experience in her last relationship but sometimes an artist’s best work comes out of rough times. Have enjoyed her on screen and am interested to see what happens with her music.