Halsey (also known as Ashley Frangipane) has been named one of 2015's key artists to watch numerous times and it's no wonder why she has with the huge album that she has just dropped. Having listened to her since around January time new music is something that I have been desperate for, her five track Room 93 EP that was released last year being a well round summary of her as an artist was incredible but me being me needed more. And now it's here, we have left Room 93 and entered the Badlands.
In the run up to the release Frangipane had been releasing several songs for pre-order as well as singing a set of songs off the album at her concerts (which until this September will have all pretty much been US based). This has given her rapidly growing army of fans a taste of what is to come. My favourite from the pre-order had to be Drive while my favourite that she had been singing during concerts is Colours, both are incredible and have such clever lyrical meaning.
The album opens with Castle, a haunting song with such a captivating sense to it. Lasting 4:38 it is the longest song on the album, and really gives a sense as to what kind of music you can expect from the album. To me, this is a song that I had been so excited to get a studio version of, after listening to live versions for such a long period of time this was a nice breather. However, the lyrics aren't as captivating or heavy as some of the ones that feature on several of the other tracks on this debut but that doesn't go without saying that this song is incredible in it's own rights, the music to it being its strong point.
Some of the strongest songs on the album are without a doubt Colours, Coming Down, Haunting, and Gasoline. But I don't want to push any of these songs aside, each of them brings something different and remarkable to this eery concept of the 'BADLANDS' that Frangipane has created through this album.
Halsey's sound is something that the music industry has needed for a long time, it is honest and brutal. She sings about love, drugs, sex and self empowerment, all things that are so uncommon for female artists to do. With this remarkable debut album Halsey breaks these invisible gender boundaries that have been set up by the music industry and mainstream media as a whole.
Badlands Deluxe then closes with the conclusive 'I Walk The Line', this song is the shortest on the album and carries the eery feeling that has been portrayed throughout the rest of the album right to the very end. The tempo to this is much slower than many of the other songs on the album and yet it seems to tell a story of how this love that she has found gives her confidence. It is a conclusive album that almost fully emphasises this idea of finding love in the messiest of places. The main phrase in it is 'because you're mine, I walk the line' which is repeated and layered, it is a very basic song in comparison to some of the others but is none the less a wonderful song.
I didn't know song writers like Halsey existed until I found her work, I didn't really understand what people meant when they said that they could feel something from music but the lyrics that have been put into this album changed everything. Waking up to this album was like Christmas in late August, such a wonderful feeling. If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend that you go and listen!
Badlands is available to stream on Spotify and to also buy on iTunes, or to even pick up from your local music store (also if you reside in the United States then I believe that Target is running a contest where if you purchase the album from there you can be put into a contest to win the chance to be flown out to spend the day with Halsey).
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