Melissa Kacar

BADLANDS was born out of necessity and a means of escape for Ashley Frangipane, along with the creation of Halsey as a persona she could disappear into. It wasn't just a world she built for herself, but one that allowed those who saw a piece of themselves within the music to escape into as well. That blurred line between who they are and who they perform as has always been central to Halsey's artistry. The dismantling of the divide between the two sides of herself is something she's explored time and time again, especially on albums like  Manic and The Great Impersonator , but it all traces back to BADLANDS, their 2015 debut album. This music allowed Halsey to create a life devoid of expectation, control, and the limitations of reality. It was a place where she was able to reclaim her agency, and the chaos of her inner world would finally be seen, heard and understood.  To have that kind of confidence and clarity of identity at just nineteen years old was rare. Expressi...

Halsey begins their 2020 album Manic with her name, "Ashley" , and ends it with her birthday, "929", creating a full‑circle narrative arc that beautifully captures just how deeply personal the album is. The closing track is a raw, diaristic look at her life and her journey, told through a free‑flowing, conversational reflection of memories, lessons, and wisdom that she has picked up along the way.  Produced by her frequent collaborators Jasper Sheff and John Cunningham, "929" perfectly encapsulates the personal journey Manic takes the listener on. This record is one of self-discovery and acceptance of every side of yourself, in the most unfiltered way.  "I really was born at 9:29 AM on 9/29, you think I'm lying, but I'm, I'm being dead serious," she jokes in the intro, speaking casually in the studio when working on the album. The rest of the song goes into a stream-of-consciousness style of confessional that is so unguarded and self...

Room 93 is the 2014 debut EP by Halsey , a collection of five songs written through the lens of a young woman who left it all behind to chase a dream far bigger than herself, all while trying to make sense of the world around her.  In an interview with  All Things Go Music  in 2014, Halsey described the concept of  Room 93  being inspired by her time living in a hotel room for the year spent making the EP. "I've formed romantic relationships and business relationships and friendships out of hotel rooms. What's weird about them is it’s like a stage setting, a fake place. It’s not a real environment," she said. "The EP is a narrative about how in a hotel room, because of the forced intimacy, you can either really be yourself for a bit or you can really be someone you're not. So it's about human relationships under the scope of that lab rat mentality, or security cam mentality." Certain visual themes shine through in this music; it's almost as if yo...

"The Subway" by Chappell Roan The long-awaited official release of "The Subway" is finally here and it is absolutely the best song that Chappell has released thus far. There's so much emotion packed into every lyric. The song is deeply heartfelt and unflinchingly honest as Chappell recalls the kind of specific, intimate details of a love that got away. All of the memories still linger, almost as if she is haunted by them. After performing the song live for the past year, I'm so happy the studio version of it is finally out! "Ice In My OJ" by Hayley Williams Earlier this month Hayley Williams surprise released a seventeen standalone singles, which she later compiled into an official album titled Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party . It's already a very strong contender for my favorite album of the year so far, I'm continuously discovering new aspects of it that I love each time I listen to it. "Ice In My OJ" was one of my initial f...