Although it was a previously released track, the revamped studio version of “New Americana” premiered on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio, receiving enormous praise. DJ Zane Lowe spun it twice in a row because he thought it was that good! It became the second-most played song in the first month of the radio station’s existence. Halsey described “New Americana” as “a social commentary on pop culture.”

Before performing the song in Philadelphia in June of 2015, Halsey said it’s not about smoking weed and listening to rap music, but rather about “a generation that is unafraid of diversity.” In an interview with Last.fm, she made some remarks about the track:

It's about America's tendencies to latch onto diversity and how pop culture has shaped us as a nation. Music is a universal language, and what music has done for our current generation is diversified it, because the music that you grew up on instills a lot of morals and a lot of beliefs in you because, you know, music is the greatest teacher.

Halsey also posted a small paragraph on Twitter providing some detail into the video. The official music video premiered on MTV on September 25th, 2015.