Born in New Jersey as Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, Halsey isn’t a stranger to impersonations. In fact, the creation of “Halsey” stemmed from an idea of self-doubt itself.
“I created a person, and she could do everything. There was no way that Ashley was going to become a king, but I made a new name for myself and took her to paranormal, supernatural heights.” (Cosmopolitan,2020)
Her first album “Badlands” came into being when she was at her lowest. With no money and no way of continuing college , she took this as an opportunity to completely change herself and give herself a new identity. And with the way her career has advanced and majority knowing Halsey, not Ashley, it is safe to say that she did that well.
“At the time, I felt that Ashley didn’t deserve to be famous and successful because she wasn’t that special, but if I made Halsey, maybe she could be.”
Her new studio album “The Great Impersonator” took her impersonation skills to a new level and came out with what can be considered as one of the most creative album rollouts of the year. In her social media, she counts down the 18 days till her album releases by doing a drag of idols that have inspired her life and the tracks. (Check it out on her instagram page)
The story behind that is heartbreaking. We will get to that in a minute. First, let’s see how the story starts.
While most commonly considered a “pop” girl, Halsey has had songs across a variety of genres. She released her first album when she was only 19 and that album was a “Tumblr” favorite. The genre was mostly pop but it was being compared with more alternative artists like the 1975, the Neighbourhood, Melanie Martinez and Lana Del Rey. The single “Colors” was a teenage sensation and helped them gain mainstream attention. You could hardly find any girl that had not used “You were Red, You liked me cause I was blue. You touched me and I was a lilac sky. And you decided purple wasn’t for you.” at least once for their Instagram captions.
Their next album, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom”, was a fully pop album. Despite having collaborations such as The Weeknd, Big Sean and Lauren Jauregi, it failed to gain love from the masses and the critics. It failed to have any smash hits owing to its confusing marketing . It was apparent that Halsey was aiming for a pop hit album riding on the success wave of previous year’s radio hit “Closer”. However, while the catchy melodies and song structure contributed to that, she didn’t want to completely detach herself from the tumblr bubble (I mean look at the album name).
Halsey’s journey has been confusing to say the least. They are undoubtedly a great artist, in every sense of the word. They write their own songs, write poetry, paint incredibly well, cook and also launched their own line of makeup “AboutFace” in 2021. If we consider their music, it has ranged from the poppiest collaborations with BTS, Marshmello or Benny Blanco, to grunge rock “Experiment on Me” for the soundtrack of Birds of Prey.
Trying out way too many things at once that always sounded “off”, she has struggled to maintain the line between ‘confusing’ and ‘diverse’. The “emo” lyrics often came off as too corny, and the cocky lyrics came off as try-hard. And while the inspirations behind the songs were genuine, these were the reasons why it failed in execution.
Finally with her third album, “Manic” that changed. Her strength lies in her exceptional storytelling where the story is of her life. One of her biggest hits, that was later on included in her 3rd studio album, “Without Me” was the start of that honesty and “Manic” followed through with that. The album starts with her acknowledging that she was trying to be someone who she was not, all these years and she doesn’t want to be that anymore.
“Standing now, in the mirror that I built myself. And I can’t remember why the decision wasn’t mine But it seems I’m only clinging’ to an idea now”
About the first track ‘Ashley’ she says that this is the first time she has truly let herself be herself, without being protected by any subplots or elaborate concepts and that has made her feel exposed. Halsey has regarded the songs in “Manic” as a stream of consciousness rant.
From saying that her songs take less than thirty minutes to write and actually freestyling the closing track “929”, the album truly felt that way. In the album, she talks about bipolar disorder, heartbreak, the wish to be a mother while struggling with endometriosis and multiple miscarriages.
That honesty had worked as a foundation. Once they had found her footing in music, it allowed them to experiment more with her music. Their concerts, covers and a few of the tracks they had previously released, make her rock influences quite apparent. That influence blossomed when she got Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the Nine Inch Nails to produce her fourth studio album, and my favorite “If I can’t have love, I want power”. The album explores the conflicting emotion of joy and horror of conception and pregnancy.
Halsey’s marketing genius is truly underappreciated. IICHLIWP was followed through with an hour-long arthouse horror film with extravagant production. The album itself was extraordinary with tracks like “The Tradition”, “Bells in Santa Fe”, “1121” that stood out for its eerie, experimental and ambitious sounds. The song “Darling” was dedicated to her unborn son and the beautiful guitar was played by Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. This is the second song in the album that was for her child. In her song “Ya’aburnee”, she talks about the fear of miscarrying. After struggling with endometriosis and multiple miscarriages, she fears if she would lose this child too. She expresses her wish for her child to trade places with her: “bury me before I bury you”
The Inspiration and story behind “The Great Impersonator” is even more brutal. In the past year, Halsey had been diagnosed with both lupus and blood cancer and had undergone extensive chemotherapy. The album name itself is a derivation of what doctors refer lupus as. Halsey wrote this album when they thought they wouldn’t live any longer and this is the last thing they had to offer to the world. They used that opportunity to pay homage to their idols that have inspired them in their career, music and life.
The album consists of 18 songs, where in each of them she impersonates an artist that has impacted her life in some way. In the trailer for the album she wonders if things would have been different if she debuted at a different era, does she still become a mom, does she still get sick, “Am I still Halsey in every timeline?” When you are diagnosed with a chronic illness like that, you start to think of the What-Ifs and Halsey does the same.
The album starts with “Only Living Girl in LA”, where she seemingly attempts to impersonate Marilyn Monroe. While the sound or melody had little to do with Marilyn’s style–a theme that is not unusual in the album–the idea can be applied to Marilyn. Halsey says in her post “The most impersonated woman in history, a woman who eventually had to impersonate herself day after day; asking the question ‘Want to see me become her?’”
This refers to a conversation of Marilyn with Amy Greene, wife of her personal photographer Milton Greene. Amy Greene reminisces about a time where she and Marilyn were walking around in New York City. She loved NYC because no one bothered or even recognized her there and she could just walk around in her plain-jane clothes.
“As we’re walking down Broadway, she turns to me and says ‘Do you want to see me become her?’ I didn’t know what she meant but I just said ‘Yes’- and then I saw it. I don’t know how to explain what she did because it was so very subtle, but she turned something on within herself that was almost like magic. And suddenly cars were slowing and people were turning their heads and stopping to stare. They were recognizing that this was Marilyn Monroe as if she pulled off a mask or something, even though a second ago nobody noticed her. I had never seen anything like it before.”
Halsey’s story has some parallels with Monroe. Similar to Norma Jeane, only a few people know the real name of Halsey. She talks about how ‘Halsey’ doesn’t have a driver’s license, and it’s Ashley who does. Monroe’s life had been spent violently hounded by obsessive media and fans. Even her death was sensationalized. In the song Halsey wonders if people would laugh at her death, wanting to run away and be a ‘real life girl’.
The persona of Halsey was created as someone who was born to be famous. But as time went on, she felt more and more detached with this persona to the point where she was impersonating herself. And this is where the parallel with Monroe comes in.
The second song “Ego” was a single and also performed by them at the Grammys. In dyed red hair and singing in a literal garage, this was indeed the perfect ‘garage rock’ single of the 90s. Impersonating the lead singer of the Cranberries, Halsey calls herself Dolores’ long lost daughter.
Halsey, similar to Dolores, has been vocal about her struggles with Bipolar Disorder. Her short hair, mullets and hairstyles have often emulated O’Riordan’s.
I have struggled to find the resemblances in some of the tracks to the artists she is supposed to be impersonating. Letter to God (1974) was one of them where she is supposed to be impersonating Cher. The subdued vocals and production that made it seem like you were listening to it from another room wasn’t like Cher’s deep,powerful voice. However, this was the first song in the album that made me tear up.
There are three tracks with the title “Letter to God” from three different decades. The lyrical parallels are haunting. In the 1974 version, she pleads God to make her sick to make people love her. It’s obvious that this wish was when she was much younger, talking about going to Grandma’s. In the 80’s version, she says she doesn’t wanna be sick, but if she has to she wants to get it over quick so it doesn’t hurt. Finally in the 90’s version, referring to her little baby boy, she says
“Please, God, oh, you’ve gotta be sick.
Why do you make it hurt, and why’s it over so quick?
Please, God, I’m finally loved
I finally found somebody I don’t wanna get rid of”
There are other harrowing moments in the album. In the “Life of a Spider(Draft)” she talks about her illness reducing her into no more than a spider in the bathroom. It can also be a possible narration on how her ex left her because he found her hideous and couldn’t deal with that. In “Hurt Feelings” she is impersonating her teenage self and addressing the complicated relationship she has with her father. “You know my father isn’t dead, but it don’t feel like he’s still here”.
While there are parallels to stories and lyrics, the most obvious ‘impersonations’ in the album were “Arsonist” (Fiona Apple) and “Panic Attack” (Stevie Nicks). The attempts are apparent in “Darwinism” (David Bowie) and “Dog Years”(PJ Harvey) and if you reach, then maybe the “A-ah” part in the chorus of “The Great Impersonator” (Bjork). “Lonely is the Muse” (Amy Lee of Evanescence) is an amazing rock song that gets the genre right but little with Amy Lee. But these are not necessarily a bad thing.
Trying to fully impersonate artists, vocal and music style, might come off as ingenuine and would have more to criticize and compare. Rather her trying to use their stories to draw parallels to her own was a very smart way to go about it.
Spanning decades and numerous variations in style, the album doesn’t feel disjointed. It feels comprehensive and whole and successfully tells the story it attempts to tell. The album ends with Halsey asking if the story dies with its narrator; the ending line being “In here lies the Great Impersonator”. Whether it be the end of the persona of “Halsey” or the last album “Ashley” will put out, or just the end of this one album, this was a beautiful way to end it.
This is one of the most ambitious projects of Halsey’s yet. There were a lot of risks, a lot of homages of legends to do well. But it seems like it has paid off. Halsey has talked about quitting music in the past in her songs. Although this time it was because of a chronic illness, if this was indeed the last thing she ever put out, she did a good job of it.
