Halsey - Badlands

Halsey
Badlands
2015

Unique is an understatement when looking to describe Halsey. She is not your typical 20 year old in both her performance and life in general. You would be hard pressed to find another writer of her caliber, her lyrics are intensely descriptive yet narrative. On "Roman Holiday" she takes you deep into her world, her life and experiences become an open book. Often times great pop music can be distant but Badlands manages to a great listen as well as being super personal. The "New Americana" that Halsey sings about is her in a nutshell, from growing up listening to Nirvana and Biggie to watching your father punch a hole in the wall it is what it means to be a millennial. You'll hear her described as similar to Lana Del Rey, BANKS or Rihanna but those parallels are on a very base level. She is different from those acts and more just an entity on to herself. She is probably the closet to Lana in tone, but has a much younger much richer vibe. There is possibility in her voice and in her music that you really don't find anywhere else. The slight touch of the avante-gard on tracks like "Haunting" just add to the mystique that Halsey has around her, she can float between the bubblegum pop and art rock scenes almost seamlessly.

The producer list on this album also brings about some interesting collaborations. The Futuristics and Son Lux in particular are bold choices. She also is so raw in her songwriting like on "Young God" where she says: "If you want to go to heaven then you should fuck me tonight" and it is not meant to be an invitation or to braggadocious instead it's just a truth. The albums final track "Ghost" (also the lead single) is probably the catchiest song on the record, but there is still a great deal of heart in it and nestled at the end of the record it wraps it up quite nicely. The potential for Halsey is bright and beautiful, get prepared for the rest of this year to filled with her songs.

8.9 out of 10