When Halsey first burst onto the pop scene with her Room 93 EP, way back in 2014, the world wasn’t ready for her. She attracted fans by her desperately heartfelt music, building up a fanbase who flocked to her darker sound and her honey-sweet voice – and when she revealed herself to be as outspoken as the lyrics in her music, her reputation only got stronger.
Five years on, and Halsey is a household name, known and loved internationally. And even if you don’t love her, then you’ll certainly be aware of her voice. The mark on the pop industry that she’s leaving will be felt for many years to come, and she’s fully aware of the influence she can have as a popstar taking on the world.
Right now, Halsey’s political voice has never been louder. She knows the sort of person she wants to be, and the sort of person we all ought to be – i.e. simply decent and respectful. And she’s often gone about it in her own way – by being loud, being outspoken, and being utterly badass. Here are 6 times Halsey showed the world what it means to own that label.
Halsey’s always opted for a darker, angrier sound than what her collaboration with Chainsmokers for ‘Closer’ may have implied: her debut album, Badlands, worked on the concept of a gritty dystopian society, a reflection of her mental state; hopeless fountain kingdom, her second album, borrows the concept of Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.
Haley’s new single ‘Nightmare’, however, is a song very rooted in current affairs. Best summed up by the lyric ‘I’m tired and angry but somebody should be’, Halsey is raging against the types of injustice women are still fighting against, especially in an era where essential feminist rights such as abortion are being eroded in some states of America. The bombastic, raging song cannot come at a more relevant time, though Halsey insists it’s always been relevant. In an interview with iHeartRadio, Halsey explained:
“A lot of people have been like, ‘Wow. Like how did you know women were gonna need this song so much right now?’ And I’m kinda like, “If you think this is our first time we’ve needed to be angry, then you haven’t been paying attention.'”
In 2017, Halsey graced the cover of the raunchy magazine Playboy, dressed in pink and pulling a playful expression. While this didn’t bother a lot of the internet, some people were perturbed by a self-professed feminist collaborating with a magazine such as Playboy.
However, Halsey proved how badass she is again by defending her choice to do so, in a now-deleted Instagram post, stating:
‘Yeah, it’s crazy. I can show my tits in Playboy, perform at the Nobel Peace, speak at the Planned Parenthood Gala with Hillary Clinton, shake my ass on 300 stages, give a speech at the United Nations, do 150 shots of tequila, get a #1 album, and march in the streets of DC all in just ONE year! Newsflash. A woman can be multidimensional #WeAreNotJustOneThing. Just so we are fucking clear.’
In a bit of badassery that comes a bit more subtly, Halsey showed off just how talented she is in a performance on SNL.
Singing and painting may come naturally to some people, but not at the same time. Amazingly, Halsey made it look absolutely effortless while performing ‘Eastside’, her collaboration with Khalid and Benny Blanco, on the American late-night show. The picture, a floor-painting created as she sang, appeared to be an upside-down self-portrait.
As well as casually painting, Halsey also covered her co-singer’s parts in ‘Eastside’, fluctuating easily between the pronouns both artists used. This comes as a tribute to Halsey’s own bisexuality, and an acknowledgment of the normalisation of bisexuality Halsey has helped foster in the pop industry.
In an era of America typified by Donald Trump and his enabling of harmful policies, women’s rights have never been more vulnerable. A spate of bills and legal actions against a person’s right to abortions – most notably the ‘Heartbeat’ bills in Georgia, Iowa and Missouri – has brought into stark reality the vulnerabilities of progressive policies that were previously thought to be watertight.
Halsey has joined a whole host of other celebrities to condemn this attack. Teaming up with the American Civil Liberties Union, Halsey has taken to social media to join the fight against the rollbacks, and raised money for abortion clinics by selling merchandise.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency, Halsey made waves on the internet by performing a spoken word poem for the protesting crowd at the Women’s March in 2018, speaking about the rape and sexual assault she’s suffered in her distant past, and in a past not so long ago at all.
Noted for its vulnerability, its power and its honesty, this was a moment where Halsey showed how dedicated she is to the cause of women’s rights. Her courage and confidence to pen her trauma and broadcast for the entire march, and the entire world, is an incredible thing for anyone to achieve.
Halsey’s journey has been a rags to riches sort of story, but she’s determined not to let her celebrity status define her past. Instead, she has proven over and over again that she will speak up for the issues that mean most to her. From attending a gala to fundraise for preventing homelessness – to speaking out against the ‘Straight Pride parade’ floated on the internet on the eve of Pride Month – to donating over $300,000 to fund research into endometriosis – she consistently helps to fix the issues in society that have deeply affected her, and spoken up for those who aren’t as able to do so.
By doing this, Halsey has been setting a high bar for others to follow. She’s proven what it means to be an inspiring star, and a badass one to boot.
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