One week prior to the release of her third studio album, Manic, Halsey gifted fans with one final single, “You should be sad.” In the country-influenced track Halsey pours out her frustrations about a previous relationship, whilst throwing in some subtle jabs about her ex’s character in the process.

The track shares similarities with October 2018 single “Without Me,” about ex-boyfriend G-Eazy and his infidelity. In a tweet following the release of “You should be sad” Halsey hinted that the song was also about G-Eazy, whilst explaining the concept behind the music video:

Had the vision to do a “before he cheats” but instead about after he does haha.

The track’s single release was first hinted at in November 2019, after it appeared on her Spotify. At the time, it was suspected to be the album’s fourth installment, but was preceded by December 2019 promotional singles, “Finally // beautiful Stranger” and “Suga’s Interlude.”