Diva Spolight: Halsey

My first exposure to Halsey was when The Chainsmokers featured her on their hit track Closer back in 2016. I thought she had a great voice, but since I'm super bad at listening to the radio I admittedly didn't know (or at least recognize) any of her solo stuff until about four years later, when she hosted and was the musical guest for Saturday Night Live to promote her album Manic. I absolutely loved the songs she performed on the show, and since then I've been excited to listen to the new music she has released and have enjoyed getting to explore her older stuff for this week's post.

And now, our usual fact dump (all info current as of April 2022):

-Given name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane

-27 years old (she's a Libra)

-Born in Edison, New Jersey (a little under an hour from the capital city of Trenton)

-Vocalist and songwriter

-Has one child, a son, with partner Alev Aydin

-Has won 38 awards, including one American Music Award and four Billboard Music Awards

-Has released 4 studio albums

I thought I knew what to expect diving into the beginning of Halsey's discography, but I was pleasantly surprised that she had a relatively diverse sound while still staying true to her individual style. Let's get started!

BADLANDS (2015)

Halsey's debut synth pop/alternative pop/electropop album was released August 28th, 2015 by Astralwerks when she was 20 years old. With a run time of 40:03, it produced four singles: Ghost (3/9/15), New Americana (7/10/15), Colors (2/9/16), and Castle (2/9/16). The album has also been certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA for selling 533,000 copies in the United States. BADLANDS has a really cool vibe, maintaining a very pop sound while mixing in elements of rock as well. Her vocals and songwriting are pretty impressive, especially considering how young they was at the time, and I ended up having a fairly difficult time choosing my Top 3. Here's where I ended up landing:

Track 1: Castle (written by A. Frangipane, P. Losnegård)

I really, really liked this album opener a lot and thought it set the tone for the rest of the album really well. Not only was it released as a single for this album, it was also included on the soundtrack for the 2016 film The Huntsman: Winter's War (starring Chris Hemsworth & Charlize Theron).

Sick of all these people talking, sick of all this noise/Tired of all these cameras flashing, sick of being poised/And now my neck is open wide, begging for a fist around here/Already choking on my pride so there's no use crying about it/I’m heading straight for the castle, they wanna make me their queen/And there's an old man sitting on a throne that's saying that I probably shouldn't be so mean/I’m heading straight for the castle, they got the kingdom locked up/And there's an old man sitting on a throne that's saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut/Straight for the castle

Track 6: Roman Holiday (written by B. Berger, A. Frangipane, R. McMahon)

I had a feeling I would like this song when I saw the title because it reminded me of the Audrey Hepburn film of the same name, and I was very relieved to hear that my suspicions were correct. This is a nice pop song with a good beat and lots of nostalgia laced throughout the lyrics.

Do you remember the taste of my lips that night I stole a bit of my mother's perfume/‘Cause I remember when my father put his fist through the wall that separated the dining room/And I remember the fear in your eyes the very first time we snuck into the city pool/Late December with my heart in my chest and the clouds of my breath, didn't know where we were running to/But don't look back/Oh, we'll be looking for sunlight or the headlights/‘Till our wide eyes burn blind/We'll be lacing the same shoes that we've worn through/To the bottom of the line/And we know that we're headstrong and our heart's gone/And the timing's never right/But for now let's get away/On a Roman holiday

Track 8: Colors (written by A. Frangipane, D. Bauld)

I've mentioned before how much I like vivid imagery in music, and this song does a really great job of painting a beautiful, albeit sad, picture. Halsey has stated this is one of their favorite songs they've ever written, adapting it into song form from a poem that they wrote back when they were 17.

Your little brother never tells you but he loves you so/You said your mother only smiled on her TV show/You're only happy when your sorry head is filled with dope/I hope you make it to the day you're 28 years old/You're dripping like a saturated sunrise/You're spilling like an overflowing sink/You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece/And now you're tearing through the pages and the ink/Everything is blue, his pills, his hands, his jeans/And now I'm covered in the colors, pulled apart at the seams/And it's blue/And it's blue/Everything is grey, his hair, his smoke, his dreams/And now he's so devoid of color, he don't know what it means/And he's blue/And he's blue

hopeless fountain kingdom (2017)

Halsey's sophomore pop/R&B/synth pop/electropop album was released June 2nd, 2017 by Astralwerks when she was 22 years old. With a run time of 38:32, it produced three singles: Now or Never (4/4/17), Bad at Love (8/22/17), and Alone (3/15/18). The album has also been certified Platinum by the RIAA for selling one million copies in the United States. hopless fountain kingdom was admittedly my least favorite of Halsey's four albums thus far - it felt like it was trying too hard to be pop or radio material and, in my opinion, lost some of the cool almost rock edge that BADLANDS had. Her vocals and songwriting are both still great on this album, though, and I was able to choose a Top 3 relatively easily:

Track 7: Sorry (written by A. Frangipane, G. Kurstin)

I really, really loved the lyrics to this song and the more stripped down style that it started off with. I feel like the lyrics can be really relatable to anyone who's experienced a break up, whether it's with a romantic significant other or even with a platonic friend.

I've missed your calls for months it seems, don't realize how mean I can be/‘Cause I can sometimes treat the people that I love like jewelry/‘Cause I can change my mind each day, I didn't mean to try you on/But I still know your birthday and your mother's favorite song/So I'm sorry to my unknown lover, sorry that I can't believe/That anybody ever really starts to fall in love with me/Sorry to my unknown lover, sorry I could be so blind/Didn't mean to leave you and all of the things that we had behind

Track 11: Bad at Love (written by A. Frangipane, E. Frederic, J. Tranter, R. Chahayed)

I wasn't super big on this song when it first came out, but the more I've listened to it the more it's grown on me. It's fun to sing (and fun to play on the ukulele as well, from what I've discovered) and has a good beat and a good vibe to it. Bad at Love won a BMI Pop Award and an iHeartRadio Titanium Award in 2019.

Got a boy back home in Michigan and it tastes like Jack when I'm kissing him/So I told him that I never really liked his friends, now he's gone and he's calling me a bitch again/There's a guy that lives in a garden state and he told me that we make it 'til we graduate/So I told him that the music would be worth the wait, but he wants me in the kitchen with a dinner plate/I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe that we're meant to be/But jealousy, jealousy, jealousy, jealousy get the best of me/Look, I don't mean to frustrate, but I always make the same mistakes, yeah I/Always make the same mistakes 'cause/I’m bad at love, ooh-ooh/But you can't blame me for tryin’, you know I'd be lyin' sayin’/You were the one, ooh-ooh/That could finally fix me, lookin' at my history/I’m bad at love

Track 14: Angel On Fire (written by A. Frangipane, G. Kurstin)

In addition to really liking Halsey's vocals on this song, this is another one where the lyrics grabbed me immediately. This is a good interpretation of what it can feel like to have anxiety in a social setting and how it can feel like you're losing control of yourself.

I woke up to another mess in the living room, broken bottles all around my feet/They came again in the night under crescent moon, didn't wake me in my sleep/‘Cause they talk and drink and laugh 'bout things and fall in love in my backyard/I hide and cower in the corner, conversation's getting hard/‘Cause nobody seems to ask about me any more/And nobody seems to care 'bout anything, I think/And nobody seems to recognize me in the crowd/In the background, screaming "Everybody, look at me”/And I'm faded away, you know, I used to be on fire/And I'm faded away, you know, I used to be on fire/I’m standing in the ashes of who I used to be/And I'm faded away, you know, I used to be on fire/You know, I used to be on fire/You know, I used to be on fire, fire

Manic (2020)

Halsey's third electropop/pop/hip hop/alternative rock album was released January 17th, 2020 by Capitol when she was 25 years old. With a run time of 47:36, it produced three singles: Without Me (10/4/18), Graveyard (9/13/19), and You should be sad (1/10/20). The album has also been certified Platinum by the RIAA for selling one million copies in the United States. Manic goes back to a sound that's closer to what Halsey created on BADLANDS, but it's definitely different enough to be seen as its own independent thing. I've listened to this album start to finish twice, once in 2020 and once for this post, and while more of the songs grabbed me the second time than my initial listen through, my Top 3 was still pretty sturdily set in stone:

Track 4: You should be sad (written by A. Frangipane, G. Kurstin)

This is one of the songs I heard Halsey perform on SNL that night, and it has since become my undisputed favorite Halsey song. From the cool country rock type sound she has going on with the guitars to the amount of emotion she packs into her vocals and lyrics, this song is a gut punch that never gets skipped when it pops up on my phone. You should be sad won a BMI Pop Award in 2021.

I wanna start this out and say, I gotta get it off my chest/Got no anger, got no malice, just a little bit of regret/Know nobody else will tell you, so there's some things I gotta say/Gonna jot it down and then get it out and then I'll be on my way/No, you're not half the man you think that you are/And you can't fill the hole inside of you with money, drugs and cars/I’m so glad I never ever had a baby with you/‘Cause you can't love nothin' unless there's somethin' in it for you/Oh, I feel so sorry, I feel so sad/I tried to help you, it just made you mad/And I had no warnin’ about who you are/I’m just glad I made it out without breakin' down and then ran so fuckin' far/That you would never ever touch me again/Won't see your alligator tears 'cause, no, I've had enough of them

Track 8: 3AM (written by A. Frangipane, G. Kurstin)

This song is such a fun banger right in the middle of the album, and it makes me feel like skipping down the middle of a street with a baseball bat (not to use, just for the aesthetic, of course). The song almost gives me Avril Lavigne-esque vibes, and as a millennial who's watched Avril from start to now I'm always here for that.

Darling, I just left the bar and I've misplaced all my credit cards/My self preservation and all of my reservations are sitting and contemplatin' what to do with me, do with me/Think I took it way too far and I'm stumbling drunk, getting in a car/My insecurities are hurting me, someone, please come and flirt with me/I really need a mirror that'll come along and tell me that I'm fine/I do it every time/I keep on hanging on the line, ignoring every warning sign/Come on and make me feel alright again/‘Cause it's 3am and I'm calling everybody that I know/And here we go again while I'm running through the numbers in my phone/And yeah I'll take fake moans and dial tones, let 'em spill right down the microphone/I need it digital 'cause, baby, when it's physical I end up alone, end up alone/La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la/La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la/La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la/I need it digital 'cause, baby, when it's physical, I end up alone, end up alone

Track 10: Finally // beautiful stranger (written by A. Frangipane, G. Kurstin)

This was the other song Halsey performed on SNL, and just like with You should be sad I fell in love with it immediately. It's sweet slow dance vibe that reminds you of when you're first starting to fall for someone in a slow burn kind of way.

Your eyes, so crisp, so green, sour apple baby, but you taste so sweet/You got hips like Jagger and two left feet, and I wonder if you'd like to meet/Your voice is velvet through a telephone, "You can come to mine, but both my roommates are home/Think I know a bar where they would leave us alone," and I wonder if you'd take it slow/Oh, we're dancin' in my livin' room and up come my fists/And I say "I'm only playing," but the truth is this/That I've never seen a mouth that I would kill to kiss/And I'm terrified, but I can't resist, and I said/"Beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms and I know/That beautiful strangers only come along to do me wrong and I hope/Beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms/But I think it's finally, finally, finally, finally, finally safe for me to fall"

If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021)

Halsey's fourth and most recent alternative rock/grunge pop/pop punk/rock album was released August 27th, 2021 by Capitol when she was 26 years old. With a run time of 42:52, it has produced two singles since its release: I am not a woman, I'm a god (8/31/21) and You Asked for This (9/7/21). If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power has the hardest sound of any of Halsey's albums to date (which makes sense when you see that it was produced and largely co-written by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails), and I honestly love it. Halsey came up with the concept of this album during her pregnancy journey (she suffered multiple miscarriages and endometriosis before giving birth to her son last year), and I think that it's a super interesting and creative take on something that only a select portion of the population can understand. I struggled only slightly with Top 3 here, but here's where I landed:

Track 1: The Tradition (written by A. Ross, G. Kurstin, A. Frangipane, T. Reznor)

Like with Castle on Badlands, this is a super strong album opener that sets the tone real quick. It immediately feels darker than what you're used to, but you're super intrigued to hear what comes next.

Oh, the loneliest girl in town is bought for pennies of prize/We dress her up in lovely gowns, she's easy on the eyes/Her soul is black and it's a fact that her sneer will eat you alive/And the buyer always brings her back because all she does is cry/So take what you want, take what you can, take what you please, don't give a damn/Ask for forgiveness, never permission/Take what you want, take what you can, take what you please, don't give a damn/It's in the blood and this is tradition

Track 4: Lilith (written by A. Ross, A. Frangipane, J. Cunningham, T. Reznor)

I love the beat on this song, and even though the vocalization is a little monotonous it works because the lyrical pattern is interesting and fun to sing. This was apparently the first song written for the album, and even though it hasn't been released as a single it's still very worth giving attention to.

Well, I'm perfection when it comes to first impressions/Well, I romanticize, and then I get to stressing/A big brain like I'm teaching it a lesson, baby, it's a blessing, yeah/You got me thinking that I was too mean/Well, everything that I say I believe/Tuck a knife with my heart up my sleeve/And change like a season, reason for nothing/I am disruptive, I’ve been corrupted/And by now I don't need a fuckin' introduction, I’ve been gone/‘Cause I been on this road too long/You know I get too caught up in a moment/I can't call it love if I show it/I just fuck things up, if you noticed/Have you noticed, tell me have you noticed/I get too caught up in a moment/I can't fall in love if I show it/I just fuck things up, if you noticed/Have you noticed, tell me have you noticed

Track 12: The Lighthouse (written by A. Ross, A. Frangipane, J. Cunningham, T. Reznor)

I love the gritty rock sound on this song probably more than any other on the album. Like with the other songs on the album, the imagery in Halsey's lyrics tells an interesting story all over some really great guitar and drum beats.

From a tender age I was cursed with rage/Came swinging like a fist inside a batting cage/I went swimming with the devil at the bottom of a lake/And he left me there by my lonesome/He was tall and mean with venom eyes so green/Wanted reconciliation, but my tongue was in my teeth/I couldn't find the floor, so I was kickin' with my feet/But they weren't there, they were stolen/There is a lighthouse in the middle of the deep end/I’m still standing on the shore line and nobody hears me scream/And I'll lure you like a landslide and I'll show you lovely things/If you rescue me, but they'll make believe the lighthouse by the sea

Check out Halsey if you've never given her a chance - her music has something for pop lovers and rock lovers alike, and I'm excited to see what else she creates further on in her career. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!