She’s a biracial, bipolar, bisexual feminist. Her name is Ashley Frangipane, aka Halsey—and she’s taking the music world by storm. Signing with Astralwerks only a year ago, her first headlining world tour sold out in an hour. After releasing her EP “Room 93” on October 21, 2014, she gained popularity through YouTube and Tumblr. Her first studio album “Badlands” was released on August 28, and it is incredible. Stating that this is an “angry female record” to Billboard magazine, she has created a world known as the Badlands, and as she says, “We don’t go there.”
At just 20, she has accomplished more in one year than many of her peers, many of which have been in the music industry for the same amount of time she’s been alive. With nearly 700 thousand followers on Twitter, her fan base is rapidly growing every day.
Speaking of Halsey’s fan base, the dedication she shows to her fans is something else that must be noted. She loves her fans so much that she got matching tattoos with them. Yes, you read that right, she got matching tattoos with three fans. She also plays every music festival she possibly can and hangs out with her fans afterwards. Her dedication to her craft, and that craft’s many followers, is something to be admired when you consider what an exhausting lifestyle being a performer is.
So now that you have some knowledge about Halsey, how about her music? Lyrically, this record is everything an empowered woman could ever want. Vocally, her indie sounding voice is a powerhouse coming through your headphones or blasting out of your speakers as you’re driving down the highway. Emotionally, listening to this album is like eating a much-needed tub of ice cream; it’s comfort food for your soul. It’s everything you need for every range of emotion. One of her more famous lyrics is from “Colors” where she recites a small poem in the middle of the song: “You were red and you liked me because I was blue. Then you touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky, and you decided purple just wasn’t for you.” It’s a personal favorite of mine because I feel like I can relate to it, and I think the same is true for most of her fans and that’s why she is so popular. She is so relatable.
Halsey is going all over the world this year to share this world she has created with all of us. I listen to her every day and I hope after reading this you decide to give her a listen also. Be mindful that this album had a few explicit tracks.
Happy listening!
Rating: 5/5