Everybody loves a well-written, engaging love story, whether it’s a hilarious romantic comedy, a passionately plotted novel, or even an honest and emotional ballad. Throw in a dose of inspiration from a literary classic, such as "Romeo and Juliet," and you'll have yourself an audience-pleasing, healthily developed piece of art.

Enter Halsey's recently released sophomore album, "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom," which is none of anything mentioned above. Poorly paced, convoluted, and ever so sure of itself, the New Jersey native's recent project attempts to harness that very "Romeo and Juliet" influence, but unfortunately fails to live up to the artist's hype.

While its introductory track "Prologue" at least does its job of setting the scene, it half-genuinely serves the listener with a lengthy quotation from the opening of "Romeo and Juliet," the very literature that serves as this album's narrative influence. The creative route (writing your own prologue for your own body of work) would actually show some talent at scene-setting, something that Halsey needs to have if her album is going to sport a 50-minute narrative (one that fizzles out roughly a third of the way through, as the love story seems to be hung up on the phase of "I miss my lover and refuse to move on.")

Poorly executed concept aside, much of the track listing also fails to deliver. The official album opener, "100 Letters," carries zero momentum; the chorus fails to deliver on anything substantial as the story's first set piece, leaving its audience wondering why the following (and superior) track, "Eyes Closed," wasn't chosen in its place, as Halsey's vocals in this song almost becomes a vocally processed, ominously rising synth that truly invites the listener into this narrative's world.

However, it is within the first half of the album that Halsey offers a decent to great song for every dud: the lyrically over-dramatic misfire that is "Heaven in Hiding" finds itself overshadowed from the aggressive hooks on "Eyes Closed" and the jazzy, rhythmic bounce of "Alone." The overproduced, heavily electronic-relying single "Now or Never" is blown out of the water by the tender, beautiful ballad of "Sorry."

It is at this point in the track listing (song number eight) that Halsey's concept album runs out of steam. "Good Morning," "Lie (feat. Quavo)," and "Walls Could Talk" come across as one to two minute half-baked, laptop-concocted demos rather than substantial tracks that progress the narrative, as their over-reliance on electronic elements detract significantly from the extremely urgent love-story Halsey is convinced she is telling. A couple of the last songs on the project (the chemistry-laced duet "Strangers (feat. Lauren Jauregui)" and the lyrically unique, atmospheric"Angel on Fire") at least show a mild attempt at a standout moment before the album's slow, dull finish.

With a mere five solid tracks Halsey's "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom" fails to deliver the level of consistency that her previous project "Badlands" gave listeners. The attempt to concoct an album's worth of material out of what could be achieved in a single track (a "Romeo and Juliet"-esque love story that boils down to lust and frustration) falls flat by the end of the first act. The generic, unimpressive trap/R&B flavor lacks any powerful, unleashed vocal delivery to compliment (or even redeem) it. While some tracks might receive radio play, don't expect to remember this album too well by the time your end of the year album lists begin to form.

1.5 / 5

A Hopeless Fountain of Mediocrity