Taking a Look at the Music Discography of Halsey

Halsey in a Vogue 2022 Photoshot

Hi everyone. So I want to start off a new series on here called “Taking a look at the Music Discography” in where I take a look at the discography of a music artist and band and give my opinions on their body of their works over the years since they started created music. So for the first artist/band I’ll be tackling in this seires, I will be taking a look at the electronic/alternative pop artist, Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, also known as Halsey.

Now Halsey has been an artist I was quite familiar with back in the day, with hearing songs like Closer with The Chainsmokers and her popularity on social media sites like Tumbler, but I never have payed too much attention to her music on a deeper level prior to this series. But as I went down the rabbit hole of Halsey’s music, I was intrigued by her use of pop and techno synths, and how she incorporates those styles in terms of her music and song writing that is presented in her albums. As well as not being afraid to challenge herself by experimenting with different genres and different tones within each other albums. But does all of that pay off with the albums being good? Well let’s find out.

The album cover of Room 93 by Halsey

Room 93 (2014):

The EP that started it all, and as far of debut albums goes, this one ain’t too bad. I think the songs suffer a bit from the overloaded production and the uneven balance between that and the songwriting (especially in songs like Ghost), but Halsey shows solid enough potential as a songwriter and the way she commands the songs in affective manner with this EP. A decent enough debut from Halsey that could have been in some areas.

Standout Tracks:

Hurricane, Empty Gold

Rating: 6/10 - It’s Alright, I guess

The album cover of Badlands by Halsey

Badlands (2015):

Her first feature length album and the album that put her in the mainstream light, and honestly, this is the type of album that you expect from a mid-teir pop album release in the mid to late 2010s. It has some decent tracks with some interesting production value on the instruments and approach on how the songs, but it does suffer with weak writing and not engaging hooks to make most of the songs interesting. It’s not a terrible record, but not the strongest outing from an artist who I’ve seen pull out some really strong music as you will see later on this entry.

Standout Tracks:

Hold Me Down, Drive, Hurricane, Roman Holiday, Strange Love, Coming Down, Control

Rating: 5/10 - It’s Alright, I guess

The album cover for Hopeless Foundation Kingdom by Halesy

Hopeless Foundation Kingdom (2017):

Now this is Halesy’s first attempt to be more experimental as an artist by going the concept album route and using the story of Romeo and Juliet as the framing device for the concept album, and while I admire her for taking those big swings with this album, I felt the overall album didn’t completely worked as a whole. For every good track that offers solid songwriting and intriguing production value, there’s a fair amount of the songs that suffered with not so good production and songwriting that lies into the line of blandness and sometimes cringe worthy territory. Which makes it the more frustrated, given the ambition this album had to offer compared to her pervious albums up to this point and it doesn’t allow the more interesting themes and concepts to shine as they should. Not an awful album, as it does have some tracks I do like, but I would say it’s her most frustrating album to date.

Standout Tracks:

100 Letters, Heaven is Hiding, Alone, Walls Could Talk, Bad at Love, Strangers, Angel on Fire, Devil in Me

Rating: 6/10 - It’s Alright, I guess

The album cover for Manic by Halsey

Manic (2020):

If you think up to this point that I’m a Halesy hater, I am far from it, because this album is the first album of hers that I liked overall. While it’s far from perfect, as some of the songs still suffer from bland/mid-ness in terms of the production and writing, it’s clear from this album that Halsey was able to find her grove in terms of her songwriting and production that relies less on the 2010 techno vibes and more a striped down approach that makes a good amount of this album work as a cohesive whole and demonstrates a level of maturity in terms of being an artist and songwriting, and it offered a lot of her best songs as result of this album. So yeah, really solid album overall.

Standout Tracks:

Ashley, clementine, Graveyard, You should be sad, 3am, Finally//beautiful stranger, Alanis’s Interlude, 929, Be Kind

Rating: 7/10 - It’s Pretty Good

The album cover for If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power

If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021):

We’re up to the most recent released Halsey album and it’s even produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and as far as this album goes, not gonna lie, this album actually rules. This album that Halesy has been building towards throughout her career up to this point and all of the misteps set in her pervious albums are little to be shown on this record (tho some of that is shown here and there). Which is a blessing, as this album was able to explore and disect the themes of power, love, womanhood, and the horrors and joys that come from living those experiences very well, and contains the strongest writing and production out of any Halsey record. On top with allowing the rock influence to pop the f off so well that I was jaimming with many of the tracks on here. I always knew Halsey was a great artist underneath the Tumbler quirky pop girl vibe she was in during the 2010s, and this album finally showed that potential, and it’s the first of her works I can see myself revisit quite often in the future.

Standout Tracks:

The Tradition, Easily than Lying, Llith, You asked for this, Darling, 1121, honey, I am not a woman, I’m a God, Ya’aburnee, Nightmare - reprise

Rating: 8/10 - Great Stuff, Great Stuff

Halsey in a Billboard 2023 photoshoot

So overall, Halsey is a very interesting artist to take a look at her discography. While I’m not a huge fan of some of her works (especially during the 2010 decade), there’s no doubt that she has a strong passion for challenging herself both sonically and on a songwriting level within each of her albums. I was grateful to see the potential she had blossomed during the 2020 decade so far with her two most recent albums (Manic and If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power). While I wouldn’t go as far as saying she’s one of my favorite artists ever (tho maybe that could be the case over time), I’m excited to see where she goes as an artist and how her music will continue to evolve over time with each project she creates. I mean, that’s what every artist should try to do, right?

Halsey Album ranking:

1. If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power

2. Manic

3. hopeless fountain kingdom

4. Room 93

5. BADLANDS

That’s all for this first edition of “Taking a look at the Music Discography”. Let me know what other music artist or band I should tackle in the future, and and if you want more of my music taste, go and follow my musicboard account, and as always, thank you for reading. Thanks for reading Diving Into Art! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

EDIT (1/1):

I recently listen to her latest album The Great Impersonator, and I got to say that it’s my favorite album from Halsey. Recently bias sure, but this album shows Halsey at her most honest and most vulnerable that uses the different genres of music to illustrate her how she would view herself in these different times periods of music and imagining what she could have been with the fear she might not be able to see herself live to make more music. Highly recommend this record, if you want to give it a listen.

If you want more of my taste in music, feel free to follow my Musicboard account