Artist of the Month: Halsey
Manic album cover
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, more commonly known as Halsey, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Halsey has released three studio albums, one live album, six extended plays, 21 singles (including three as a featured artist), nine promotional singles, and 35 music videos. Her three albums are “Badlands,” which was released in 2015, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” in 2017 and “Manic” in 2020.
Her album “Manic” was released on Jan. 17, 2020 through Capitol Records. Halsey, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 17, wanted to create an album that explores her day-to-day struggle with bipolar disorder. The genre of the album is pop/alternative pop. “Manic” was released after three singles: “Without Me”, “Graveyard” and “You Should Be Sad.”
Halsey collaborated with Dominic Fike for “Dominic’s Interlude,” Alanis Morissette for “Alanis’ Interlude” and SUGA from BTS for “SUGA’s Interlude.”
“Manic” was very successful and ended up number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States. “Manic” was Halsey’s biggest album debut to date, selling 239,000 units in its first week.
My favorite songs from her album are “Still Learning,” “Alanis’ Interlude” and “Ashley,” even though I love all the songs since they are very well written. One of my favorite lines in “Still Learning” is “I should be living the dream but I go home and I got no self-esteem” since it’s telling the listers being an artist isn’t as glamorous as it seems.
Her song “Graveyard” is about going to a dark place due to a relationship and you are ignoring all of the warning signs.“Still Learning” is about being human and struggling with loving ourselves.
“More” is possibly the most personal song on “Manic” and details Halsey’s hope to have children.
In an interview with Apple Music, Halsey spoke about her song, “More”.
“For a long time, I didn’t think that having a family was something I was going to be able to do, and it’s very, very important to me,” she said. “Then one day my OB-GYN tells me it’s looking like I maybe can, and I was so moved. The fading instrumental at the end of the song is to sound like a sonogram, like you were hearing the sounds from inside a womb. It’s one of the most special songs I’ve ever made.”
As of Jan. 27, Halsey announced her pregnancy announcement to the world on her Instagram.
Overall, Halsey has made a very good name for herself in the music world. Her music is very personal and listeners feel impacted by her work. Her work details very personal struggles she goes through and helps people know more about her.
