Myths and legends claim that witches get their powers from the moon.
I get mine from music.
I always find myself gravitating towards certain songs depending on my mood or what I’m currently going through in life, because I often find the answers in the lyrics and the production that aren’t as obvious in reality.
It’s even rarer that an album comes to me at the right time, but Halsey’s hopeless fountain kingdom has definitely made that list. She has the answers I've been looking for for months.
"All I know is a hopeless place that flows with the blood of my kin..."
Released Friday, June 2nd 2017, kingdom is the sequel to Halsey’s debut album BADLANDS (2015), which paved the way for her mainstream appearance on the radio with the Chainsmoker’s “Closer” and her own “Now Or Never.”
In BADLANDS, Halsey (born Ashley Frangipane) took listeners to a place she calls the Badlands, a metaphor for her damaged state of mind (Halsey suffers from bipolar disorder and is very vocal about it). Listeners experienced what it is like to live inside Halsey’s mind, but on kingdom, they experience what it is like to live in her life. And often times, it is not very pretty.
I am not the first to admit that Halsey is no power-house vocalist, nor are her lyrics going to go down in history as some of the best things ever written. But her dedication to her music and to creating entire worlds (complete with characters that live within them and backstories for how they came to be) for her music to run wild and flourish in is what sets her apart from other artists.
This causes listeners to feel like they have gone to a different world when listening to her songs: “Ghosts” transports the listener to the run-down motel in a dark corner of the Badlands; “Angel On Fire” sends the listener to Luna’s (the protagonist of kingdom) own palace within the Kingdom.
"I'm not something to butter up and taste when you get bored."
Speaking of the Kingdom, Halsey’s setting for her sophomore album was directly inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet - so much that “The Prologue” features Halsey reciting the very introduction from Shakespeare’s original play at the start of the album. The aesthetic of the film is reflected in the album artwork as well as in the visual for “Now Or Never,” and is expected to continue as the project unfolds even further.
Though the illusion of being able to visit these worlds that Halsey creates for herself and her fans is a very big part of all the fun, the real connection I feel to Halsey comes when I listen to her songs. Again, though not particularly groundbreaking, Halsey has never been anything but completely honest, and though she keeps up a persona of positivity and comedy on her social media, her vulnerability allows me to see the pieces of herself she detests - many of which I share with her. And within the world of the Kingdom, there is definitely love all around, despite it being a place of war and violence… except, not for Halsey, and not for me. Many times as I am listening, I feel like she understands exactly what I feel because of how she is able to arrange certain emotions and struggles into words in a way that resonates with me
In “100 Letters,” she sings of the pain that comes with using sex to feel less lonely ("I find myself alone at night unless I'm having sex"), and in “Alone,” she admits that anyone that wishes to meet her will regret it once they finally have ("you'll wish that you never did"). In “Sorry” and “Bad At Love,” she laments how strange it always is that people start to fall in love with her, and once they have, she always manages to mess it up somehow. In “Strangers” and “Now Or Never,” she expresses frustration at putting more into relationships than she receives.
"Never pick up, never call me - you know, we're running out of time."
Other highlights from the album include “Walls Could Talk,” an early 2000’s inspired track that talks of an intense love growing violent, “Heaven In Hiding,” a sensual track that lives among the ranks of previous songs like “Coming Down” and “Strange Love,” and “Don’t Play,” which allows Halsey to assert her confidence and dominance as she cautions her haters to back off.
"She doesn't kiss me on the mouth anymore, 'cause it's more intimate than she thinks we should get."
Halsey knows her target audience: it is not the music critics. It consists of the kids that are just as sad and lonely as she is, looking for a place they can run away and escape to for a little while. She may be twenty-two, but she is still young and she is still learning. And I have a hard time believing that she is as “Hopeless” ("I hope that hopeless changes over time") as she claims to be.
