Smashing onto the music scene with a shock of brightly coloured hair, powerful pop tunes that unsettle as much as they soothe and a middle finger constantly raised, Brooklyn based singer Halsey is set to become one of the most important pop figures of this decade.
A bold statement, sure, but after one quick chat with the ballsy newcomer and it becomes swiftly apparent that Halsey, real name Ashley Frangipane, isn’t here to just release some pleasant tunes and cash her paycheck, but make an imprint on contemporary culture itself.
Like her counterparts, such as Shamir and FKA Twigs, Halsey strongly embodies the refreshing ideals that seem to characterise the new wave of young musicians; a bold indifference to tradition, an acute sense of identity, sexual and otherwise, and an unyielding yet fluid conviction on achieving career goals and her music stands as a rallying call for a generation just finding their feet in an increasingly complicated young-adulthood.
Chatting to Music Feeds from the touring life in the US, Halsey talks all about her exciting concept album Badlands, kicking gender stereotypes in the dick and when we might be expecting a visit to Australia.
Watch: Halsey – Ghost (Room 93 Version)
Music Feeds: Where abouts on the US tour are you at the moment?
Halsey: I’m backstage right now actually, on the Imagine Dragons tour, sorry if it’s a bit loud, they sometimes get a bit crazy, you know, rock band and all. What’s going on with you?
MF: Honestly, I just spent the last 20 minutes watching videos of dogs throwing tantrums because they don’t want to take a bath so I’m pretty damn great.
H: That sounds like me before I have to go onstage! Just kidding, I love it. What time is it there?
MF: Oh it’s the middle of the day, I should definitely be working, but, call it a dog video break?
H: Haha I like it, I think every occupation needs a dog video break, I know mine definitely does.
MF: How’s the tour been so far, getting along with the Imagine boys?
H: It’s been amazing they are like the nicest guys in the world and they’re so supportive. Like, really genuine people. When you meet someone you’ve respected for a while and you want them to be a certain way and Dragons have absolutely fulfilled my expectations.
They care a lot about new artists, which is one of the reasons they brought me along on the tour. Super supportive, like, every night they’re like “Do you need anything, good job tonight.” They have their kids on tour, Dan’s daughter Aja watches my show every night, and it’s so cool to have this little girl out in the crowd!
Watch: Halsey – Ghost (Badlands version)
MF: So Ghost is the new video, which is the second clip for the song. What informed making a second video was it a label thing?
H: Not particularly. We ended up putting Ghost on Badlands, my album about to come out, and we transferred it over [from her EP Room 93], so as a writer who writes concept records, it became kind of difficult to leave the Ghost video as it was in its original state considering it needed to fit into the visual content of the Badlands storyline. Having to take a song that was meant for one storyline and move it into another meant a reimagining of the video was needed.
The content of the video was me being a little oppositional actually. We were in a meeting talking about just doing a higher budget version of the original and someone said “alright well, we’ll cast a guy” and I think I kinda snapped. I wasn’t planning to, honestly, it wasn’t some political move, I just kinda went “why would you assume that you’d cast me a guy”.
That general assumption that a guy should be cast, like, that the video was about a hetero-normative plotline, just made me angry and made me realize how important it is to do something that people aren’t expecting. Like, I’m a bisexual woman so I’m interested in relationships with both men and women and I know how important it is to showcase that.
MF: I’m probably not the first to say this but it’s got a very Lost In Translation vibe. Was it an inspiration?
H: Yeah totally. For Badlands, the vibe of the whole album references cinema, its kind of got this retro-future vibe. The Badlands are a post-apocalyptic society and it’s supposed to be metaphoric of a mental state. Recovering after a mental apocalypse and the decision to leave a wasteland is what it represents to me.
So, yeah, I was heavily influence by Lost in Translation and Enter The Void, and, you know, the album in its entirety I intend to be cinematic. It’s very inspired by Tarantino, and a lot of the great films I loved growing up with grand and desolate, almost comic book, feels to them.
MF: You acted in the original video, do you enjoy that aspect of performing?
H: I think so. I think most artist do, in general. I’m a storyteller, you know, so who better to tell it than me. Especially as someone who writes from a first person perspective, I’m the protagonist of most of my songs. Sometimes I’m the antagonist! Like often I’m the one who’s wrecking havoc on someone else’s life. All these characters are manifestations of myself, the very bad and the very good.
Watch: Halsey – Hurricane
MF: As a film fan, hypothetically, what would be a dream movie or director for your music to feature in?
H: Oh god, anything Wes Anderson, anything Tarantino. The record has a heavy Tarantino vibe so I’d love to get involved with him. Its got a raw industrial vibe. I’d love to go back in time and score some of the films oh his I loved so much.
There are a couple of songs on the record that mimic Drive, and mimic Pulp Fiction. Once again playing on this idea I started in Room 93, making movies with no pictures is what music feels like for me.
MF: Lets talk Badlands, your upcoming debut LP. Tell us about the title, I’m picturing a The Road kind of, grey, cold wasteland for some reason, am I getting it right?
H: Well, visually for the record, the Badlands are an entire region itself. Along with the album will come some visual accompaniment, in the box set there’s a map I’ve drawn and I really tried to bring to life the city inside my head.
Inside Badlands there’s a booming metropolis filled with capitalism and commercialism and outside the city is where you find the desert wasteland. I think with it being representative of a mental state you have this buzzing part of your brain which is filled with kind of awful things not necessarily healthy to the people “living there” and then you make the decision to leave you don’t know what you’re going to get which is the desert.
MF: You’ve said you wanted to write an angry female pop record, do you think you’ve succeeded?
H: I think I have! I had two of those things already nailed, being female and writing pop music. I write pop music instinctively and it’s a very strange record I’m really proud of. I think a lot of people think I would have gone one way and I’ve definitely gone the other.
I’m really proud of that, that everyone was like “oh yeah intellectual pop, she’s a good writer yeah, yeah” and I mean, I could have put out a record full of Max Martin/Dr. Luke hits, and don’t get me wrong I’m a huge fan of those producers, but I wanted to do something a bit weird and create something with sound, you know.
There’s a song on the record called Drive where halfway through the song it feels like someone’s getting out of the car and they’re listening to it from outside the door. We wanted to create actual space on the record and incorporate that with pop sensibilities that make it relatable and digestible. I made an indigestible, digestible pop record in a sort of way.
Listen: Halsey – Hold Me Down
MF: Safe to say female driven pop and rock is huge at the moment, not just your Taylors and Beyonces but even with Florence and Haim and others from across the spectrum. What do you think of the current landscape and what are you bringing that’s missing from the scene?
H: I think my music is a bit more direct. I think that the tremendous amount of dialogue and detail and environment in my music is what brings it to life. Other artists, I think, write in a more abstract way, which I mean is great, every writer writes differently, but I can’t write abstract. I can’t write songs that are vague and don’t mean anything, I find myself writing music which is so direct and specific and that’s what makes it universal.
A lot of artists say “I’m going to write about a BIG topic because its relatable” and, I’m not suggesting this is what Florence or Haim do, I’m going a bit off track here, but I think I do the opposite which is specific and undeniably believable and people can’t help but empathise with me.
MF: Personal relationships seem to feature heavily in your music but what are some other inspirations from your life we’ll see in the new album?
H: Absolutely the album is about relationships, all my music is about relationships but this one takes it a bit further then Room 93 which was kind of like my little black book, and Badlands I have more room to play around.
It’s about romantic relationships and relationships with business people and friends and family and ultimately about a relationship with myself. There’s a song called Control on the record and its about my relationship with myself and there’s a song called Roman Holiday which is a bit of a coming of age song, which I described as the Breakfast Club of the album.
I had more room to say things this time and the hardest thing when you’re a songwriter is that when you make an EP about your life experiences and you exhaust that, and then you have to go and make a whole record, but fortunately for me its been a whirlwind of a year so I wasn’t struggling for content!
Listen: Halsey – Is There Somewhere
MF: Speaking about whirlwinds, #BringHalseyToAustralia is a hashtag I’ve seen about on Twitter, reaching number one trending a few times. Is it bizarre having a distant country so thirsty for you?
H: So bizarre. A lot of people ask me “how does it feel to be a global artist” and it’s like nothing you can even wrap your head around. I’m from New Jersey and I thought New York was the greatest wilderness that I could ever explore and then my music started taking off even further and thinking about people across the world enjoying my music is the greatest sense of accomplishment for me.
Because I’m a songwriter first, and knowing my music isn’t territorial or demographic specific and that people with very different upbringings and morals and experiences can relate to my music is just mind-blowing and is what keeps me going. I can’t wait to come to Australia. Everyone I know has been there but me!
MF: Any news on an Australian visit?
H: I can’t confirm anything but obviously I’m not going to let a call go unanswered.
MF: Summer’s a great time to visit wink wink nudge nudge.
H: Oh we might be on more of the same page then you think.
MF: Awesome. Well hurry up and sort it out, can’t you just show Twitter to your manager and be like, “yeah we should go”?
H: Haha oh they see it all. As soon as we can fit it in I’ll be there, I’m on a hectic tour schedule at the moment. Next on my list!
You know, one thing I love about Australia, my boyfriend Lido who’s a producer gets a lot of love in Australia and he’s showed me a lot of awesome producers coming out of Australia like Basenji, Flume and Wave Racer and I love Australia’s appreciation of weird music. I can’t wait for you guys to hear the album because you’re just gonna GET IT there.
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Halsey’s debut album Badlands is set for release August 28. Since this interview Halsey has been announced on both the Falls and Southbound lineups for 2015/16.
