From Room 93, to the Badlands, and into the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom

"I'm not a great singer-I'm really not! But there's lots of good artists who aren't great singers-it's their writing that makes their music so good. And I write, a lot," said alternative artist Halsey in an interview. Many of her fans who love her high, soft, passionate voice might disagree with her first statement, but the latter, which hints at a pride in her lyric writing, is certainly true. Halsey's known in the music world for telling stories with her songs that evoke very intense emotion and memory for herself and listeners alike. After great anticipation, she released her second full-length album called "hopeless fountain kingdom" on June 2nd, 2017. The album features 16 songs, and like the music that's come before, it tells a double-edged story.

In October 2014, Halsey released her EP "Room 93". According to Halsey, who writes music with a specific concept in mind, it's set in a hotel room. In an interview, she says, "...you can either really be yourself for a bit or you can really be someone you’re not. So it’s about human relationships under the scope of that lab rat mentality, or security cam mentality." The year that she was working to produce ''Room 93'' involved a lot of hotel rooms for her, both for personal and business reasons.

In August 2015, Halsey released her first full-length album ''Badlands", which featured new tracks as well as slightly revised versions of several songs from "Room 93" that fit into the concept scope of her new album. With "Badlands", Halsey wanted to 'create a space with sound', and that space was to reflect her state of mind-Halsey opened up recently about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager, and in her first album, it's easy to see the pull back and forth, and an echo of another world and place where the 'New Americana' stay 'Young Gods' forever.

With so much build up and adoration from her fans then, "hopeless fountain kingdom'', which Halsey had hinted was another concept album, was eagerly anticipated. Halsey released three singles from the album in the three weeks before the full album was released; "Now or Never", "Eyes Closed," and "Strangers", the latter of which was a proud and intentional representation of bisexuality on her album. The singles did reasonably well, with "Now or Never'' making it onto the radio and into the charts, but it's the full-length album that's currently sitting at #1 on the charts that's the true gem.

In "Prologue", we start with an eerie reading of what the listener realizes is the opening lines of Romeo and Juliet, narrated by Halsey herself, which appropriately sets the tone for the rest of the album. In the "hopeless fountain kingdom", while we've escaped the "Badlands", there's still a struggle; lovers, set in a similarly futuristic realm as "Badlands" and "Room 93", go back and forth in a story that builds in it's intricacies and references past songs. Fans, old and new, will especially enjoy becoming familiar with her lyrics when they begin to connect the complexities of each song and their relationships.

Throughout the lyrics of the tracks following "Prologue", we see deep-seated parallels-symbolism, coupled with rhythmic beats and Halsey's haunting voice, building not a detailed story but an outline that listeners can work with. There's a relationship between the lovers, the sun and the moon, the Shakespearean struggle between two people groups, and our own cultural struggles and the listeners.

"I will never be anything but honest. I write songs about sex and being sad," the bio of her official site simply says, and it's no surprise then that the lyrics of her newest album are noticeably more significant than those on "Badlands".

"100 Letters" begins with a mythological reference; 'How can Midas put his hands on me again/...I find myself alone at night unless I'm having sex/but he can make me golden if I just showed some respect'. Later in the lyrics, we here that the protagonist is leaving her toxic lover...which melds into the story of "Eyes Closed", one of the singles that Halsey released early. 'Would've gave it all for you/cared for  you/so tell me where I went wrong', she cries out. 'They don't realize that I'm thinking about you/It's nothing new/It's nothing new.'

In stark contrast to the numb, lonely heartbreak of the former two songs is "Heaven in Hiding", a sassy, provocative melody where the protagonist fiercely seduces a new lover. Halsey displays her vocal growth especially in this song as she sings, 'Said this ain't what you usually do and a girl like me is new for you/and I can tell you mean it cause you're shaking'. The track immediately after, "Alone", carries the same projected confidence in it's melody and most of it's lyrics, apart from a the hint that the protagonist still isn't quite happy: 'See, everywhere I go/I got a million different people tryna' hit it/but I'm still alone in my mind.'

"Now or Never", another single that was released early and made it on the radio, fits in perfectly with the rhythm of the album; after conflict, and a confident front, the protagonist believes she's found someone who could maybe actually love her, and that she loves-still not without frustrations, however. 'We've been through it all/but you could never spit it out for me.'

But perhaps the girl who stayed in Room 93 and made it out of the Badlands had love all along, she just never realized it-like so many of us. "Sorry" is a slow, haunting, vulnerable lament that thousands of people who hear the song will relate to. Who doesn't fear that maybe, just maybe, no one could ever love them? '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.' Then the album cuts back sharply to the theme presented in ''Prologue"-this isn't just a sad, lonely girl's story we're following, it's an entire world. "Good Mourning", one of the oddest and most intriguing tracks on the album, is narrated in part by a child, an individual that we later realize is sided with the Sun. 'All I know is a hopeless place that flows with the blood of my kin/perhaps hopeless isn't a place/nothing but a state of mind/they told me once "don't trust the moon, she's always changing''/and begs to be loved.' Halsey follows up with the eerie, repetitive, 'The sun is coming up oh why oh why oh why/the sun is coming up oh why oh why oh why.' There's still two lovers in this story, two 'families'.

Quavo and Halsey collaborate on "Lie" to produce a sultry, taunting number, singing, 'Oh you turnin' red/'Cause I'm tryna give the impression that I get the message/You wish I was dead'. "Walls Could Talk" implies that we've now entered a place where many secret rendezvous have occurred, and "Bad at Love" hints at many lovers the protagonist has gone through, followed by "Don't Play" where once again the vulnerability displayed in "Sorry" completely disappears; Halsey warns listeners 'Yeah don't even trap/Can't f--k with my vibe.'

"Strangers" is an intentional representation of bisexuality collaborated with Lauren Jauregui. It highlights the twists and turns of what is socially acceptable, and how there's some aspects of our society that is accepting of different sexual preferences, but we still have a ways to go. 'She don't kiss me on the mouth anymore/'Cause it's more intimate than she thinks we should get.'

Her fourteenth song on the album, "Angel On Fire", has a different take on being reborn from ashes-sometimes we aren't always reborn as the better version of ourselves the way we want to be: 'I flew too closely to the sun that's setting in the East/And now I'm melting from my wings.'

After romantic turmoil, it's natural to feel conflict with self, as she highlights in her second to last track, 'Devil in Me'. 'Hopeless', the final track on the album and a collaboration with Cashmere Cat, closes the door on our visit to the hopeless fountain kingdom, the futuristic mindscape where the sun and moon struggle for dominance and two lovers fight for their right to be together, with these lyrics: 'Oh/I hope hopeless/Changes over time.'

The music industry has certainly evolved through time. Genres have exploded, trends come into play, artists come and go. What's currently the most popular music is the stuff that makes you want to vibe, party all night, have a good time, get it on. Sometimes it can be tiring even for fans of that music to flip on the radio and have that be all they hear-everyone's got that one artist who isn't mainstream that they love. For a lot of alternative fans, that's Halsey. Her ability to craft stories and worlds in minds that carry the same undercurrent of emotion and memory and passion, yet have room for individuality in the listener, is unparalleled. She bares her soul and becomes vulnerable in her lyrics, inciting passion, revolution, and unity for herself-and she fiercely invites her listeners to do the same.




At a glance:

  • Halsey's second full-length album, ''hopeless fountain kingdom''
  • One previously released EP, "Room 93", first full-length album, "Badlands"
  • Master storyteller, emotion evoker, advocate for minorities.
  • Link to audio and music videos (also now available on iTunes, Amazon Music, and Spotify)HalseyVEVO
  • Find Halsey here: TwitterFacebookInstagramHALSEY-Offical Site

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Memories...Do Not Open: Or Should You?

LBCC Instructor and Accomplished Author: Happy Endings