Stars: 5/5
“The most carnal, uninhibited, explicit flash of color and light hiding in the center of my chest.” That’s how Halsey, or Ashley, explained her new album, using an ancient saying to present “Manic” on Spotify to fans, allowing them to see and feel the side of her no one sees.
Halsey has always been great at telling stories with her music, and in this album, her most personal and real one yet, she tells the story of her life with songs that may very well be some of her best.
The story begins with “Ashley” an emotional glimpse into the singer’s mind and her feelings about her success. Then we hear the childlike innocence of Ashley with a playful track voicing her inner thoughts with “clementine.”
The song showcases Ashley in her own world, or her perception of the world, in a self-composed duet with two sides of herself.
“Graveyard” follows as a tale of a tragic love story with an energetic beat. She then surprises the listener with “You Should be Sad,” a breakup song with a great production and a country twang.
This song allows fans to hear Halsey a little bit differently while still being herself, which I appreciate and enjoy. It also makes me want a Halsey and Miley Cyrus collaboration ASAP. So many pop artists having been playing around with country music and I’ve been loving it.
“Forever … (is a long time)” contrasts the previous song, with it being gentle, until it’s not.
Then it leads into “Dominic’s Interlude” with Dominic Fike, shifting the tone of the album. The interlude then flawlessly flows into the next track “I HATE EVERYBODY,” a relatable and honest confessional about love in the madness of the 21st century.
The magic of “3am” comes next to give the album the rock angst we love from Halsey. I was sad “Nightmare” didn’t make it on the 16-track album, but this song makes up for it.
She keeps up the energy with her hit song “Without Me,” another breakup song with sass and iconic lyrics from Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River.”
The tone then shifts again to be softer with a more traditional love song done with a Halsey twist. “Finally // beautiful stranger” gives me John Mayer (who is the voice at the end of the track “3am”) and new Lana Del Rey vibes and, again, I like that it’s something different from the singer.
“Alanis’ Interlude” with Alanis Morissette brings back the rock vibe but makes it softer, which then leads into “killing boys” that starts with lines from the famous scene from the cult classic film “Jennifer’s Body.” The singer possibly hinted at this when she dressed up as Jennifer for a Halloween party in 2018.
Things slow back down and get more intimate with “SUGA’s Interlude,” featuring SUGA from BTS. The themes from the beginning of the album roll back around with Halsey discussing her career and what she wants for the future.
The story begins to come to an end with “More,” possibly the most emotional and raw song Halsey has ever come out with. “Still Learning” follows being and is also a very honest song. We finally get to the finish line with “929,” an emotional therapy session about love, life and everything in between.
It’s kind of like a big exhale after the quick and panicked breathing, going through the roller coaster of emotions listening to the album, sitting with the heavy emotion’s reality brings.
This is the best collection of music I’ve listened to in a while and every song is great and a necessary addition to the story. Yep, an actual no skip album, and I find something new to love every time I listen to each song.
Halsey recommends listening to the album from start to finish, which is how I like to listen to album the first few times because I still appreciate the idea of the artist carefully crafting the track list and putting the songs in a particular order.
Trust me, do this, because every song blends so well together and makes the listening experience so much better.
This album is gentle and powerful and showcases Ashley as a person and what she can do musically, featuring different genres and different collaborators. I tried to put into words how much I love this album, but I don’t think I ever will be able to do it justice.
I love so many different genres of music and my personal playlist sounds like this album, a mix of everything, so I’m so excited that an artist has made a whole album that fits so well with my music taste.
Do yourself a favor and go listen to this album and hear the story and musical masterpiece from Ashley herself.
Rev Ranks: Halsey’s ‘Manic’ may be her best album yet
January 19, 2020
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