Pop star Halsey has said female musicians are often taught that time is their “enemy”.
Discussing the difficulties faced by women in the industry, the 26-year-old US singer said dismissing the idea that time is not on her side has been the “best thing that’s ever happened to me”.
Halsey has released her fourth studio album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which she wrote while pregnant.
She told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe: “I think that the weight of that as a female artist is kind of deciphering time is not your enemy when you’ve been taught for so long to think that it is.
“Don’t get too old. Don’t get pregnant because then you can’t go on tour.
“It’s like running out of time, a kind of mentality where time starts to become your enemy.
“Then it’s really nice to be able to look at time as an ally, where for me time has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
“It’s allowed me to grow and allowed me to heal and allowed me to develop.”
The singer did admit she had doubts after the success of her third studio album, Manic, about what she would do next.
She said she remembers thinking: “What’s next for me? When are people going to get sick of it? When are they going to whatever.
“I’ll probably have to have a baby and start a family and then I’ll just be done being Halsey.”
In July, she revealed she had given birth to her first child, Ender Ridley Aydin, with her partner Alev Aydin.
She said she felt it was the right time in her life to have a child as she was financially independent and “pretty far along” in her career.
Halsey has been open in the past about her reproductive health, having suffered a miscarriage a few years ago.
She said people had questioned her decision to write music while pregnant, but added: “It was the easiest album I’ve ever written.
“In true Halsey fashion, the writing of the album always manifests itself in a complete juxtaposition to how I feel in my real life.”
She said Manic was intended as a political pop punk album but ended up being an “eclectic rainbows and butterflies, synth like” recording.
On her new album, she added: “Now here comes me, totally in love, the world’s in shambles, but I’m getting arguably, the first break I’ve had in seven years.
“I’m finally taking care of myself, eating my vegetables and getting sleep and I’m pregnant and everything’s amazing and then out comes this.”
However, she added: “I think being pregnant in the public eye is a really difficult thing because as a performer, so much of your identity is predicated on being sexually desirable.”
The full interview can be heard live on August 30 at 5pm on Apple Music 1.