Halsey fans, it’s time to renew your Badlands passports! The tenth anniversary of Halsey’s debut album, Badlands, is on Aug. 28. If you’re a longtime Halsey fan like me — or if you were deep into 2010s Tumblr and proudly rocked skater skirts with your fishnet tights — you’ll know that Badlands is one of Halsey’s most iconic albums. With its 10th anniversary on the horizon, Halsey is hinting at some big celebrations.
Halsey recently concluded her For My Last Trick Tour in support of their latest album, The Great Impersonator, on July 6. Since stepping off the tour stage, they’ve begun teasing their fans with cryptic social media posts, countdowns, and other clues themed around the Badlands album. The sudden hinting at their oldest album likely means birthday celebrations are underway, especially because Halsey has gone all-out to celebrate the anniversary of Badlands before.
For the fifth anniversary of Badlands in 2020, Halsey sent her fans on a virtual scavenger hunt that began the same way: with cryptic clues and posts scattered around the internet. Fans were ultimately led to the Visit Badlands website, which was updated daily with new leads. She had fans scrambling to decode messages, uncover a secret password for the site, and even call a voicemail box she set up for further clues. In the end, fans were directed to a link to listen to a new album, Badlands (Live From Webster Hall).
The scavenger hunt also concluded with a sweet message on Visit Badlands from Halsey themself, in which they reflected on what the album meant to them. But the message ended with a cryptic tease: “As for all the still untold secrets that Badlands has to offer… I guess you’re gonna have to wait another five years.”
Those five years are up just in time for the 10th anniversary, and it’s possible Halsey is sending fans on yet another scavenger hunt. The Visit Badlands website has been updated with a new pop-up that reads, “Do you still have your passport?” with a yes or no answer choice. If you click no, you’re prompted to enter your email for “information on when new passports will be available.” If you click yes, a countdown to Aug. 28 appears. Another new pop-up on the site contains the phone number 818-423-5778, the same number that was used for Badlands clues before. When you call the number now, you’ll get a message saying the voicemail box is full, but you can text the number to activate regular text alerts from Halsey. Since the number reappeared on the site, it seems likely it’ll be used for Badlands clues soon.
Halsey’s official team, Halsey HQ, is also getting in on the Badlands teasing. On July 28, they posted an Instagram Reel with a montage of clips alluding to Halsey’s “Ghost” music video from the Badlands era. A voiceover in the video says in Japanese, “When I look at the past with her, she starts to disappear. Maybe she never existed.”
The clues aren’t just online. Fans are also receiving postcards in the mail that mysteriously read, “Love from Badlands.”
Although there’s no telling what Halsey has up her sleeve for the 10th anniversary of Badlands, it seems like something big is happening soon. The album may be a decade old, but I feel completely re-immersed in the story as if it’s brand new, and I can’t wait to revisit the Badlands.