Halsey & “Badlands”: The Start of a Phenomenal Journey
Today, Halsey celebrates a very special event and it’s the anniversary of her debut album, “Badlands”. It’s been a whopping five years since the record made its explosive landing. And taking the festivities one step forward, Halsey announced a little gift for her fans on social media. The young star plans to release her first live record, “Badlands: Live From Webster Hall”, tomorrow, August 28.
Her charming little message on Instagram read, “Secret is out! After 5 years, we’re going back to the Badlands. This Friday, August 28th, I am excited to share my very first ever live album: Badlands (Live From Webster Hall).” Now, “Badlands” gave birth to some brilliant tunes like ‘Colours’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Castle’ and a string of other gems. Halsey for one has grown a lot since those early days. She’s learnt to tackle a wide spectrum of themes across her impressive catalogue of tracks. And over the years, she’s managed to weave every difficult emotion and mood perfectly into her songwriting practices. She’s dabbled with a few different genres over the years, proving her ability to master them with ease. In fact, her latest record, “Manic” saw her experiment with Country, pop, funk and more.
So, to celebrate her growth as a musician over the past few years, we’re looking at her impressive list of accolades. The star’s managed to bag some phenomenal chart wins and she’s also got a good few awards under her belt. So, we’re going to walk you through some of the brightest moments of her career…
Photo Credits: Halsey Official Instagram
1. Now starting from scratch, “Badlands” was actually a conceptual album based on a dystopian future society which served as a metaphor for Halsey’s mental state at the time. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, which was admirable for a rookie star.
2. “Badlands” was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after raking in a whopping 2,000,000 sales units.
3. Halsey later featured on The Chainsmokers’ single ‘Closer’. This tune witnessed raging success as it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks.
4. ‘Closer’ went on to become one of the most streamed songs on Spotify. It’s even managed to garner more than 2 billion views on YouTube – which is just mind-boggling.
5. Halsey’s second studio album, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” debuted atop the Billboard 200, making the star the first woman to achieve a No. 1 album in the US, in 2017.
6. Halsey’s “Manic” cut ‘Without Me’ became her most successful single as a lead artist to date. It earner the star her very first solo No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. And it remained in the top five for 22 weeks.
7. In 2019, Halsey took home an American Music Award for ‘Without Me’ which won in the Favourite Pop/Rock Songs category.
8. In 2019, Halsey notched a collaboration with the hit Kpop group, BTS, over the track, ‘Boy With Luv’. This tune became the most–viewed music video within the first 24 hours on YouTube with 74.6 million views.
9. In early 2020, Halsey scored a track for the hit DC film, “Birds of Prey”. Titled, ‘Experiment on Me’ – this marked one of the biggest films she’s managed to score a tune for.
10. And like we mentioned before, Halsey is further exploring the music avenue by releasing her first ever live record tomorrow!
By: Nina Karun
