"Now or Never" is a song by American singer and songwriter Halsey and the lead single from her second studio album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. It was released on April 4, 2017 by Astralwerks alongside a music video, as an instant grat with the album's pre-order.

Halsey announced on March 7, 2017 the release month and title of her second studio album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, set for release in June. She opted for a more mainstream-oriented sound for the album, saying: "I am more than capable of writing radio music and hopefully I'll put my money where my mouth is on this album." The single was announced alongside the reveal of the cover through Halsey's social media accounts a day before its official release.

"Now or Never" was written by Halsey and Starrah alongside producers Cashmere Cat, Happy Perez and Benny Blanco. This later also served as her "therapist in a weird way" during the recording process. She stated: "We'd finish the track and then be ready to go, and he'd (Blanco) be like, 'Hey, I heard that thing you sang. Are you OK?'. It was kind of like he was hearing a cry for help in what I was singing, which was cool because it made us bond." The song has been described as a dark pop and R&B slow jam. Lyrically, it sees Halsey offering a lover an ultimatum to love her "now or never".

In the context of following her successful pop collaboration with The Chainsmokers, "Closer", Jon Caramanica in The New York Times opined "Now or Never" is "worrisome; it's among her least vocally present songs (with a couple of blatant Rihanna-isms to boot), and moves at a slow, neutered creep. And it’s deeply effective, even if it’s not deeply Halsey."Billboard editor Jason Lipshutz wrote, "[The song] doesn’t have the massive chorus of "Closer"–its hook, widely compared to Rihanna's "Needed Me," simmers and never detonates–but the song possesses the type of slow tempo and vulnerable vocal delivery that has worked for recent hits like Julia Michaels' "Issues" and Khalid's "Location." Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone thought Halsey "embraces a more sensual sound," moving away from the "industrial-leaning alternative pop" of her debut album Badlands. Anna Caga of Spin expressed that it "sounds like someone left a can of Rihanna's "Needed Me" on the counter until it went flat."

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