Halsey is a Real “Nightmare”

Halsey is a force to be reckoned with. Today she can be found steamrolling today’s top music charts, winning multiple awards, selling out arenas on various headlining tours, even recently hosting and performing during an episode of the iconic late night TV show, Saturday Night Live. Halsey’s world hasn’t always been filled with so much glitz and glamour however, underneath all of that there is a lot of grime, determination and dedication that got her where she is today.

Now 24 years old, Halsey was born in New Jersey as Ashley Frangipane. You may notice that her stage name “Halsey” is actually an anagram of her real name Ashley, it is also the name of one of the streets in New Jersey she spent a lot of time at during her younger years. Halsey’s parents introduced her to various genres of music throughout her childhood and young adult life, including pop, punk and hip hop just to name a few. She has credited these influences on various occasions on how they have seeped their way into her writing and musical styles and techniques. Halsey is now embracing these roots from her childhood and teenage years. These musical roots allowed her to bend and mold these sounds together into her own unique style and identity, one that is recognizable and authentically hers. Halsey’s discography is easily one of the most versatile, yet truly honest collections of music I have ever seen created by an artist, especially one so young.

Before diving into the music industry, Halsey had a decently large following on YouTube and Tumblr, where she slowly started building a name for herself by posting covers of songs, ranging from Blink 182 to Taylor Swift.  In early 2015 Halsey launched her professional music career with the release of her first official body of work titled “Room 93.” This was a 5 track extended play (EP) record, but there is more to this record than initially meets the eye, or more literally, the ear. “Room 93” pushed Halsey into the abyss of writing concept albums. Currently Halsey has three concept records under her belt, but seems to be going in a slightly different direction with the album she is currently writing, still being in the early stages it is hard to tell what she might have up her sleeve. Set in a lonely,  teenage, lust filled hotel room setting, “Room 93” navigated the cloudy waters of relationships, heartbreak, and the ups and downs of growing up in general. Being only 19 years old when this record was released, Halsey was right at the precipice of going through all of the experiences that “normal” teenagers and young adults typically go through, all while simultaneously being thrust into the public eye for the first time, which is a very scary combination. The product of this scenario was a result in the birth of “Room 93,” in which Halsey found her footing as a singer and songwriter.

Fast forward four months later to August of 2015, and you’ll find Halsey releasing her full length debut album titled “Badlands.” As can be expected, Badlands is also a concept album, however this time around Halsey is digging deeper into the concept of this record than she did with Room 93. The best way to describe the genre of “Badlands” is as industrial pop, which to me means that it’s pop music but with a bit more grit and darkness to it. “Badlands” as a concept is a fictional place, that started as a mere figment of Halsey’s imagination. While continuing ongoing themes that Halsey touched on with “Room 93,” she also shed light on other pressing issues such as mental health, self worth (or lack thereof) and allowed herself to be the voice for many other youth who were struggling with these same issues.

Badlands was very much a visual album for Halsey, the staple colors she centered around this album and the universe attached to this album were pastel blues and pinks, but there were darker undertones as well. Following the release of Badlands, she brought the concept of this album to life on tour. Creating an ethereal, enthralling atmosphere during her live show and her first headlining tour, this is where Halsey began making her albums extremely fan interactive. She has held dozens of special events such as scavenger hunts, special secret shows, and even cutting and dying fans hair at one point during an event titled Badlands Hair. Throughout all of these interactive events, it allowed Halsey to create a special bond and relationship with her fans, many of which she considers her actual friends. She has an innate ability to remember minute details about the fans she meets, and can recall them years later. It is rare to see an artist of her caliber still show so much passion and care so much about their fan base, as Halsey has done from the beginning of her career and continues to do so even with the growing fame.

Redirecting back to “Badlands”, with Halsey being a 19 year old woman in a male dominated industry, this was a bold and daring album. One of the outstanding tracks on this album was “New Americana.” This rebellious anthem became a staple for Halsey early on. The lyric “raised on Biggie and Nirvana” was a self defining statement for the young artist, showcasing her diverse music taste early on (thanks mom and dad), but that was only the beginning, nobody was prepared for the whirlwind that “Badlands” was going to be.

“New Americana” was without a doubt one of the most pop leaning, fun, sing-along songs on “Badlands.” The majority of the remainder of the album submerges the listener in a much darker narrative, one that you might not expect getting yourself into if you know Halsey from her radio singles and are unfamiliar with Halsey’s deeper record cuts. One of the tracks that stands out the most to me personally is titled “Control.” This record puts you in the shoes of a person who suffers with mental illness, such as anxiety or depression. The lyric that has always resonated with me the most in this song is “I’m bigger than my body, I’m colder than this home. I’m meaner than my demons, I’m bigger than these bones.” It is a reminder that you are so much more than these internal conflicts you battle, while still paying tribute to the challenges that go along with living as a person with severe insecurities created by their mental illness. More so than just the lyrics, the melody and music leaves you with this eerie, unsettling feeling, at one point during the song it almost sounds like muffled, overlapped whispering, as if it’s the voices in your mind constantly talking to you and trying to bring you down. It is a very unique track, delivered and sung by a very unique artist. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before, and is one that attracted me towards Halsey as not only a singer, but a song writer from the beginning.

Moving away from the world of “Badlands” and onto Halsey’s next concept filled album, we have the 2017 release of “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.” At this point in her career, Halsey has gained an ample amount of fame and recognition, she has a solid platform to stand on, which comes with a much larger audience, containing both fans and critics alike. Given the circumstances, and this next release being Halsey’s Sophomore album, the pressure was on, and Halsey did not let us down.

“Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” was argumentatively much more immersive than Badlands in regard to its actual story line, and how thought out the concept of this record was. Track by track, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” told the modified story of “Romeo and Juliet.” During the months prior to/during the writing of Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, Halsey was quoted on multiple occasions sighting on how obsessed she was with Baz Luhrmann’s film “Romeo + Juliet” which starred a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Halsey herself was going through a very difficult break up at the time, and found  comfort and solace in this particular narrative, and was able to make it her own. She ended up releasing a series of music videos which followed the story line as well, these songs included “Now or Never,” “Bad at Love,” and “Alone” to name a few.

Like “Badlands,” the tour for “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” was just as immersive and interactive, only more ramped up this time. Halsey now has the resources to play bigger stages, with bigger, more intense visuals, but its all played with the same passion and heart she has always had since the very beginning. Whether Halsey is playing a 500 capacity room, or a 20,000 capacity sold out show at Madison Square Garden, she possess the skill of completely captivating any audience that sits before her.

Breaking away from the concept albums, in October of 2018 Halsey put out a single she titled “Without Me.” This track  is a particularly special track, this is one of the first solo tracks Halsey has done that wasn’t attached to any particular album, that was allowed to stand on its own and not follow any particular concept or story line. This record was groundbreaking for Halsey. Having 693,000 plays on spotify alone, and going platinum as a single (having sold over 2 million units). This record was number one on the charts for 6 consecutive weeks, and 8 months after its release, is still in the top 50 charts, still getting radio play daily. This song was a breath of fresh air for the artist, granting her so many more opportunities than she has already had.

Lastly we have the single “Nightmare” – this record is the one I am most excited to delve into. The best way to describe ‘Nightmare” is as a justifiably angry, pop punk feminist anthem. Listening to this song makes the listener feel a deep anger, not at the song but at the situation the song is depicting. This record is littered with female empowerment, the music video itself has roughly 100 women involved, with nearly an all women cast, crew and directors. The 24 year old was very deliberate in the message she is portraying in this song, along with the timing of its release. During the midst of this records release, America was, and still is at a crossroads with abortion access. Access to safe and easily accessible reproductive health is being threatened more and more as we speak, and this song was a shout into the void, giving those affected a vehicle for all of their frustration and anger, while also raising awareness to the situation at hand

Below I have attatched some stills and GIF’s from Halsey’s recent release of the Nightmare music video, as well as some lyrics from the song so you can get a better idea of the anger and passion behind “Nightmare.”

All images belong to Halsey and her directing crew for “Nightmare”.

I could go on for an eternity about how much of a positive impact Halsey has had on the world around her. The majority of Halsey’s fans feel as though she is either a friend, mentor or older sister to them. A lot of them, myself included, have grown up with Halsey more or less. I myself saw Halsey live for the first time as a 17 year old, and still today as a 21 year old am as big of a fan as ever. Halsey has embraced this role in a wonderful way and is always using her voice and platform to speak out on important issues, especially ones regarding today’s youth and the futures of those youth. Being a biracial, bisexual woman who also suffers from bipolar disorder and endometriosis, Halsey has always used her voice to try and educate people about the LGBTQ+ community, speak up for women’s rights, advocating for mental illness resources and acceptance, the list goes on. She has spoken at various women’s marches and events, and has some very powerful and moving speeches. Halsey is trailblazing the pop music industry, and is making being vocal about these issues not something that you should do, but something you are morally obligated to do. If there’s one thing you do today, be more like Halsey, she’s not so much of a real nightmare after all.