When you can say something about Halsey, aka New Jersey native Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, it’s that they’ve a clear-eyed inventive imaginative and prescient, and it colours completely all the things they do. Few pop stars have been so efficient at pushing boundaries, (rightly) calling BS, and being the change they want to see in each nook of the music trade, on social media, and even in their very own lives.
Over the course of 4 albums, beginning with 2015’s BADLANDS and main as much as 2021’s monumental If I Can’t Have Love, I Need Energy, Halsey (who goes by she/they pronouns) has labored with an bold spectrum of artists from all around the style map and pushed the boundaries of how audiences understand pop music. And all of the whereas, the hits simply carry on coming.
From hopping on Okay-pop collabs (“Boy With Luv”) to inflicting the critic neighborhood to salivate over their newest album, the high-concept If I Can’t Have Love, I Need Energy, Halsey has completed extra within the final decade than most artists their age – and much older. In case you want a primer on Halsey’s expansive – and rising – catalog, right here’s a useful breakdown of the perfect Halsey songs.
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Style-Leaping Collabs
(Boy With Luv, Be Variety, Overlook Me Too, Him & I, Nearer)
Along with being a chart-topping performer all on their very own, Halsey has fairly a repute for recording profitable collabs with a genre-crossing spectrum of fellow artists. One current smash has Okay-pop kings BTS becoming a member of forces with Halsey for “Boy With Luv,” which was featured on the band’s 2019 album, MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA. Singing with the septet, Halsey’s breathy vocals match seamlessly into the combo, and collectively the group forges an prompt pop traditional for the ages.
Elsewhere, in 2020 Halsey teamed up with DJ kingpin Marshmello for the epic EDM banger “Be Kind,” which finds the singer calling for belief and vulnerability in a partnership. And talking of EDM, one in all Halsey’s most well-known collaborations must be their visitor spot on The Chainsmokers’ 2016 chart-topper “Closer.” Clicking into gear with finger-snaps and rhythmic synths, “Closer” stands out for its crisp vocal duets, to not point out that ultra-satisfying drop.
Lastly, Halsey exhibits up on rapper G-Eazy’s 2017 hit “Him & I” – a Bonnie & Clyde-inspired tune impressed by the duo’s onetime coupledom (they break up the next yr). Extra just lately, Halsey skewed punk with Machine Gun Kelly on the high-energy ballad “Forget Me Too.”
Primarily based on the above rundown, Halsey’s capacity to hop on nearly any monitor — of virtually any style – says a lot about their versatility as a pop artist.
Industrial-Pop Experiments
(Woman Is A Gun, You Requested For This, I Am Not A Girl, I’m A God, Bells In Santa Fe, Simpler Than Mendacity)
When you’re simply studying up on Halsey, one factor to know is that their newest album, 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Need Energy, is virtually in a league of its personal.
A extremely complicated, conceptual album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Need Energy is at the beginning a rumination on motherhood and childbirth. Sonically, Halsey groups up with 9 Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who give the complete album a gothic, industrial punch. Lead single “I Am Not A Woman, I’m A God” finds Halsey enthusiastic about all the societal requirements which might be imposed on pregnant folks, sometimes breaking girls down into oversimplified Madonna-whore archetypes (“I am not a woman, I’m a god/ I am not a martyr, I’m a problem/ I am not a legend, I’m a fraud”).
In the meantime, on the skittering “Girl Is A Gun,” Halsey considers what their energy appears like minus a companion and children (“No, I’m not your daydream / I won’t have your baby / Stop ‘cause you’re killing my vibe”). Observe-up “You Asked For This,” pulls again with a susceptible Halsey performing fearful about turning into a mom once they nonetheless really feel like a baby themselves (“You know I’m still somebody’s daughter, see / I spilled the milk you left for me). The theme of fear shows up once again on the dissonant, orchestral “Bells In Santa Fe,” which accommodates brutal lyrics about Halsey’s earlier miscarriages (“Don’t call me by my name / All of this is temporary”).
Later, “Bells In Santa Fe” seamlessly transitions to the beating “Easier Than Lying”: a chaotic earworm recalling 00s pop-punk leaders like Avril Lavigne and Paramore.
Rebellious Rhythms
(New Americana, Ghost, Gasoline, Unhealthy At Love, Unusual Love)
Among the many music tastemakers on the market, Halsey stands out as probably the most unapologetically herself, completely unafraid to talk their thoughts. A rebellious streak runs via Halsey’s catalog, whether or not they’re mocking the established order (“New Americana”) or self-flagellating at their perceived lack of ability to be in a relationship.
Let’s return to the beginning of Halsey’s profession with a take a look at one in all their breakthrough singles: “New Americana,” from studio debut BADLANDS, is a satirical remark of counterculture gone mainstream (“We are the new Americana / High on legal marijuana / Raised on Biggie and Nirvana”). Sidebar: When “New Americana” dropped in 2014, audiences took it at face worth – how’s that for irony? – to such an extent {that a} annoyed Halsey doesn’t play it reside anymore.
Additionally on BADLANDS is the craving “Ghost,” an early-career ballad that, after effervescent up on SoundCloud, earned Halsey major-label consideration. Thematically, “Ghost” is a susceptible tune about an emotionally unavailable lover Halsey is aware of they shouldn’t wish to be with, however they will’t assist however admit: “I don’t like them innocent, I don’t want no face fresh / Want them wearing leather, begging, let me be your taste test / I like the sad eyes, bad guys, mouth full of white lies.” Woman, be part of the membership.
Then there’s the midtempo “Gasoline,” the place Halsey is scuffling with feeling misplaced among the many glitterati (“Are you deranged like me? Are you strange like me? Lighting matches just to swallow up the flame like me?”).
The equally brooding, R&B anthem “Bad At Love” – from 2017’s hopeless fountain kingdom – is a bittersweet monitor the place Halsey grapples with their spotty romantic historical past. “Look, I don’t mean to frustrate, but I / Always make the same mistakes,” they sigh.
Zooming up of their catalog a bit, there’s the all-caps “I HATE EVERYBODY,” which faces down Halsey’s internal demons. “I know I’ve got a tendency / To exaggerate what I’m seein’ / And I know that it’s unfair on me / To make a memory / Out of a feelin’,” they admit.
Emotionally Uncooked Love Ballads
(Now Or By no means, With out Me, Honey, Darling, Lastly // Stunning Stranger)
Regardless of their perceived romantic flaws, Halsey stays the grasp of writing a desperately uncooked love tune. The grooving “Now Or Never,” which exhibits up on hopeless fountain kingdom, professes their emotions with no hesitation, as Halsey croons: “Baby I done, done enough talking / Need to know that you’re mine.”
Elsewhere, the Justin Timberlake / “Cry Me A River”-inspired “Without Me,” showing on Manic, is technically a break-up anthem. Nonetheless, its chest-bursting lyrics are a snapshot of Halsey’s singular capacity to emote. “I said I’d catch you if you fall,” they promise. “And if they laugh, then f*ck ’em all (all) / And then I got you off your knees / Put you right back on your feet.”
It is sensible Halsey’s newest album would include a number of the most gorgeous love songs they’ve ever written. Synth-pop jam “Honey,” for starters,” is a celebration of queerness, using “she” pronouns, thus brazenly acknowledging Halsey’s bisexuality. Additionally on If I Can’t Have Love, I Need Energy is the minimalist “Darling,” a stripped-down melody about discovering a profound type of love.
Equally romantic is Manic’s “Finally // Beautiful Stranger,” a sluggish dance comprising twanging guitar and a smooth, mid-tempo beat. Lyrically evoking the 1999 Madonna tune, Halsey sings a few “beautiful stranger” with hips like Jagger and two left toes: “Here you are in my arms / But I think it’s finally, finally, finally, finally, finally safe / For me to fall.”
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