Halsey released her third album, Manic, this month on Jan. 17 and the reviews have been rolling in. This album is centered around Halsey’s past traumas and situations during her 20s that shaped her pop persona to what it is today. With an album that has an introduction titled after the artist’s real name, the audience knows that this is something deeply personal and raw. Throughout her new album, Halsey depicts her anger in her music through her lyrics that are full of emotion, passion and introspection into the self. With all the interludes in the album, it plays out a chaotic story of Halsey going through life, love, triumph and downfalls.
Courtesy: Billboard
Halsey’s unique style comes out in her album cover with her having a “black and blue” eye, applied with makeup but representing the fight through her trauma. US Magazine interviewed Halsey about her new album cover saying “When I was coming up with the concept behind the album cover the ‘black eye’ was a really important part of it,” she explained. “I think the black eye is a universally recognized sign of pain or trauma or abuse.” As someone who enjoys expressing herself artistically, she wanted to portray her past pain and trauma as something that she is still healing from. Seeing as she names one song “Still Learning” her audience can witness that she is still learning from her past.
Courtesy: Cosmopolitan
Back in 2018, Halsey released “Without Me” as the lead single for Manic which became her second number-one song on the Hot 100 list after her collab “Closer” with The Chainsmokers. Even though her first song received an undoubtedly great reception, the reviews for the album have been mixed with some praising Halsey’s powerful anger-filled ballads and others stating that it misses the mark on evoking strong feelings.
Courtesy: Independent
The Manic album features not only Halsey’s emotional state but also a range of artist collaborations. American-Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, Suga from BTS and rapper Dominic Fike are featured on three of her songs in interludes. Her song “I HATE EVERYBODY” was produced by Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother who co-wrote the hit “Bad Guy.” Revealed through Halsey’s tweets, if you look closely you can also spot a cameo by John Mayer thrown in the mix on the song “3am.” Mayer’s voice is heard saying “Your best song is a song that’s currently on the radio. How many people can say that? That their best song is the one that’s currently about to be a massive hit. It’s already a hit. It’s just gonna get more massive. How many people can say it? Not very many. Congratulations!” in relation to Halsey and seeming to predict her future success. Mayer is not the only cameo made on the song “3am.” Chad Smith, the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, performs on the song with Halsey as well.
Halsey will be promoting and performing the new songs on her album on her third concert tour starting Feb. 6 2020 in Madrid for the European leg of the tour, followed by the American leg in June.
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