Barely three years after releasing her forth album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power angelic faced songstress with a tempest past, Halsey, added album number five to her catalog on October 25th with The Great Impersonator.
In 2020, Halsey's album Manic topped my best albums of the year list.
Hesitantly approching my own healing adventure I found that listening to her lyrics of that collection songs soothed me before realizing that they did so because they made me feel seen.
Learning more about Halsey herself made me appreciate her more as an artist and as a person.
There's a lot of therapy talk in the average day to day these days however the negative stigma that characterizes menatl illness is still strongly previlent. And it doesn't disapait when and if you find yourself coming to terms with having a mental illness yourself.
Halsey understands.
That understanding is monumental because it leads to compassion which takes away shame carried with it. The heavy burden of internal shame can lead to autoimmune diseases, various health aligments, chronic pain, further mental illness, depression or suicide.
Learning about your or a loved one's mental illness and figuring out the tools to use to cope with it/manage it, or them, is self care, though it may not feel like it at the time.
So it seems like everything she pours her heart into is aimed at shedding some light on a topic that's so often lerking in the shadows.
Released on October 25th, 2024 The Great Impersonator hit my ears as a call back to the Halsey we heard on Manic moreso than 2021's If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power. With softer tones and melody's rather than an industrial driven anthems Halsey highlights her vulnerable side in a vulnerable way once again on this album. The singer who's always changing her appearance, on and off stage, took her chameleon like fashion approach one step further. She fully encapsulated the album title with promotional press photos of herself made up as different music icons from across generations. From Dolly Parton to Aliah to David Bowie and Bruce Springstein, she pulled off each look flawlessly.
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| Halsey's The Great Impersonator album cover |
Obviously, these photos are in direct relation to the album title itself. Right under the surface of the physcy of someone who battles mental health lays something that a lot people do that even more people probably don't realize.
We mask.
In order to fit in and not be looked down on, pittied, or treated differently for having a mental illness people will essientally "mask" who they are when around certain people or situations to be precieved as being more in accordance with what society and cultre deem normal and acceptable. While masking is a coping mechanism it's not necissarily a healthy one as it can lead to being detrimental to one's health.
Halsey's The Great Impersonator, from it's title to how was was promoted to the 19 tracks on it is an homage to this mental health behavior. Another step in bring awareness to and ending the negative stigma surrounding mental health issues and the people who have them.
Track number four, "Letter to God (1974)" struck a cord with me and the trasition from track 4 to track 5 , "Panic Attack" is the magic of listening to an album. The way that the songs are paired in the order that they melt into each other as the album plays on the audible sunchonisity that makes listening to an album cover to cover magical. Listening to a song on it's own loses that magic and is an artform new generations don't understand. "Panic Attack" sold me on that first listen, it's my favorite song on the album and the stand out one in my opinion. An intentional listen to it's lyrics gives the listener a better understanding of the daily mental battle so many people unknowingly struggle with.
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| About-Face "Light Lock" lip gloss by Halsey photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Along with making music Halsey also has her own cosmetics line. About-Face launched on 2021 "for the generation of e-girls and e-boys out there who want to express themselves with vibrant pigment and messy make-up" as Halsey herself puts it. And again, if you dive a little deeper you'll discover that about-face is a therapy term. In therapy "about face" menas a complete change in perspective, attitude or behavior. Essentially a radical shift in someone's approach to a situation or or issue they are working on; it signifies a significant reversal of direction or viewpoint.
Most likely it's not a coincidence that About-Face came about 3 years after Halsey's toxic relationship with rapper G-Eaze ended and she started healing from that.
So far I only have one About-Face product: a frosty blue glittery lip gloss that I would have killed for when I was in the 7th grade but never did find that perfect shade of iredesence blue gloss.
Her high performance, vegan, clean make-up and cosemtic products are inspired by and for a diverse artistic community. They're bright and glittery and fun and again, unbenounced to most, they come with a message of acceptance.
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| I Would Leave Me If I Could - A collection of poems by Halsey photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Ten months after releasing Manic Halsey released a book of poems "I Would Leave Me If I Could" in November of 2020. The passages give more insight to her inner workings and thinking. Reading them made me think of the album Manic and I'm pretty sure some of her poetic writings were plucked from the pages and used as song lyrics. Her book of poems serves as another reminder that as isolating as mental illnesses can be, if you do have one you are not alone and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
There are three different options right there for giving the gift of Halsey this holiday season. Whether it's the gift of her music, her make-up, her poem book or all three the biggest gift that Halsey gives is the gift that keeps giving: compassion and understanding without shame which leads to self love.
Don't keep your or a loved one's mental health underwraps, have a happy holiday!
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| I Would Leave Me If I Could - A collection of poems by Halsey & About-Face "Light Lock" lip gloss by Halsey photo by Nikki DeMartini |
