5 Reasons To Listen To Halsey’s ‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’
If you haven’t already dove into Halsey‘s raspy, melodic voice, you should really give it a chance, especially when it comes to her new album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
If you need to be persuaded, I’ve got some reasons for you in this cool little listical here as to why you should really check it out.
There’s Growth From Her Last Album
Though Badlands was completely awesome, there’s a different sound from Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. There’s less of what you heard from The Chainsmokers collaboration, different cadences in her voice, and the lyrical content is different than what Badlands gave us. The reason that this is a thing to celebrate is that some artists flop once they land on their Sophomore Album. Example, Lana Del Rey‘s Born To Die was the pinnacle of her artistry, and then when she moved on to the Paradise sector, the additional songs flopped hard, and had the same themes in the lyrics.
There’s Stellar Visuals To Go Along With The Songs
The music video that was released for “Now Or Never” played into the Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet aspect of the album. The Prologue of the album is the intro to R+J, which brought you into the correct mindset when it came to traveling through the album. The Montagues and the Capulets were in full swing of the music video, but instead of playing a Capulet, Halsey takes the role of Romeo Montague, while the boy she’s in love with plays the Capulet. The homages include the Hawaiian Shirts and Wings, which added the icing on the cake. Halsey actually met up with Luhrmann to come up with visual ideas for this album, and she finds that most of her inspirations come from film.
Personal Growth
In addition to lyrical content, you realize that Halsey really wears her content on her sleeve. The raw emotions rival those like Ed Sheeran who basically cut their feelings out with a knife and put them into music. In songs like “Sorry,” she shares her struggle with believing that someone could fall in love with her, and of not quite connecting with someone. Songs like that are hard to share, or even listen to when you feel these hard emotions through music, so to listen to someone write a song like that – it’s very rare you found someone who could put that into words.
There’s A Few Great Features On The Album
Quavo is literally everywhere. I swear! The Migos rapper pops up in the song “Lie,” and DJ Cashmere Cat appears on the last track “Hopeless.” Another name that appears on the album, is Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony on “Strangers,” which is what Billboard calls a “Long-Overdue Bisexual Milestone In Music.” They share that the song doesn’t “oversexualize” the song, saying “They’re not trying to be sexy. They’re not trying to turn men on with the imagery of two women being together. They’re not doing it for show. They’re simply singing about the end of a relationship the way that any other musician would, not licking their lips at the idea of making out with a friend at a pool party on a dare.” What’s also interesting about this is that Badlands didn’t have a single collaboration or feature.
We Need Strong Female Voices In Music
Yes, we’ve got many different pop stars within people like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Demi Lovato, but the difference with Halsey is she leans more of an alternative pop side. She’s edgier, sort of like Lorde, but with a more urban vibe. That plays to a type of girl in the world that isn’t always represented so it’s sorely needed.
Halsey’s album is available everywhere to buy or stream.
Amy Cooper is the type of journalist that when asked “What do you bring to the table,” she replies “I am the table.
