Since the release of her debut EP, Room 93, and the unbelievable popularity of its first single ‘Ghost’, the buzz surrounding Halsey has been uncontainable. Since then she has been selling out tours and shows overseas, she has risen to #1 on both Billboard’s Emerging & Trending artists charts, she is slated to play Lollapalooza this summer among other festivals, and now she is releasing her first full-length LP: Badlands.
Badlands is “an artfully constructed concept album, musically tracing a journey through a dystopia that may be how the future looks if you were living in the past.” Two debut tracks from the upcoming album are currently available via streaming services; ‘Hold Me Down’ and the more recent ‘New Americana’.
Sonically, Halsey’s unique brand of dark electro-pop is proof-positive that the genre truly opens up once it bears its teeth a bit. ‘New Americana’, one of the catchiest songs released thus far this year, has a layer of brooding that can’t really be compared to anything else out there. If Badlands is aiming for “dystopian”, then it is hitting its mark effortlessly.
Badlands drops on August 28th. In the meantime, catch Halsey on tour this summer opening for Imagine Dragons and Metric on their Smoke + Mirrors tour, and check out ‘New Americana’ here:
