Lexxolas: Thoughts | Top 5 Halsey Songs

Hi World!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you're all having a great day.

Like I mentioned in my February Favorites, I've recently been loving Halsey's music. I also said that I'd write a blog post about some of my favorite songs of hers, so here's that post!

After seeing Zoella write multiple "Top 5" posts on her favorite beauty products, like the one she did on drugstore lipsticks, I thought five would be a good number of items to share my thoughts on some of my favorite things, such as music. It also helps that Halsey is relatively new and has a smaller pool of songs to choose from, in comparison to an artist like Taylor Swift (who I also love), who has multiple albums. Without further ado, in no particular order, are my Top 5 Halsey songs:

New Americana

Like I said in my February Favorites, "New Americana" was the first song that got me interested in Halsey. To be honest, the lyric, "High on legal marijuana," was what made me pay attention to the rest of the song. This led to me Googling the lyrics, which are actually my favorite part of the song. "New Americana" is in fact not a song about legal marijuana, but a song about the aspects of a new kind of generation, probably describing millennials. The songs makes you feel like you're a part of that new generation as she sings, "We are the new Americana."

I love the second verse in particular. I just feel like it so cleverly captures the struggles of LGBT youth, while still telling a short narrative about a gay character. The second verse goes like this, "Young James Dean/ Some say he looks just like his father/ But he could never love somebody's daughter/ Football team loved more than just the game/ So he vowed to be his husband at the altar." Ugh, it's just so great. Well done, Halsey. *clapping emoji" (you know the one)

Roman Holiday

While listening to all the iTunes previews for the songs on "Badlands" before purchasing the album, "Roman Holiday" was one of the songs that I immediately liked. I remember thinking that if I was going to buy at least one song from the album, it would be this one. I adore the imagery of this song. I envision someone recalling a road trip that she embarked on with someone special, where she felt the freedom to go on whatever adventure she wanted. This song gives me a sense of escape from everyday worries.

When I first started listening to this song, I was curious about the meaning of a "Roman holiday." The first definition I came across on Google said that it was "an occasion on which enjoyment or profit is derived from others' suffering or discomfort," and I thought oooh, maybe I don't like this song... But then I looked again, this time on Urban Dictionary, and found the second entry on the page, which states that a Roman holiday is, "when someone decides to take a break from their usual lifestyle as a Roman Catholic to see what they have been missing out on." I like that definition better. My love for this song is based on that definition, rather than the first one haha. The second definition connotes feelings of adventure, exploration, and freedom.

Colors

I love when artists use color as a metaphor for different emotions. My love for these types of songs arose when Taylor Swift released her song, "Red," which describes the different emotions she felt with a person in a past relationship by associating each emotion with a certain color. "Losing him was blue like I'd never known/ Missing him was dark gray all alone/... Loving him was red." Troye Sivan's "Blue" employs color as a metaphor in his lyrics as well. "I want you/ I'll colour me blue/ Anything it takes to make you stay." I feel like color in itself is subjective and when you pair that with emotion, which is also unique to each person, and put it all in a song, you get a fascinating look into someone else's perspective on such universal elements.

Halsey sings, "Everything is blue/ His pills, his hands, his jeans/ And now I'm covered in the colors/ Pulled apart at the seams/... Everything is gray/ His hair, his smoke, his dreams/ And now he's so devoid of color/ He don't know what it means." There's just so much imagery in those lyrics. And of course, the iconic bridge where she says, "You were red and you liked me 'cause I was blue/ But you touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky/ And you decided purple just wasn't for you," is great. At first, because she speaks the lyrics in the song, I thought it was weird, but I've grown to love it, and I look forward to reciting the lyrics whenever I listen to the song.

P.S. Regarding the music video, I appreciate that it had a story and I liked the plot twist at the end (I'm pretty critical of music videos), but I feel like the video didn't fit the song.

Strange Love

This one is just really fun to sing to. There's a lot of the F word, so it's a bit vulgar, but fun nonetheless. Also, the fact that she sings about the "beauty of a secret" makes me think of "Pretty Little Liars."

"I don't have to fucking tell you anything."

Is There Somewhere

I love slow songs. This song is the closest that Halsey has to a ballad, so I really like this one. It's again, full of imagery, which again, I love. I also feel like the lyrics, "I'm sorry but I fell in love tonight/ I didn't mean to fall in love tonight/... Could you pretend that we're in love tonight?" illustrate how I feel when have a crush on someone.

Honorable mention: Gasoline

This is my one of best friend's favorite Halsey songs. I wanted to mention it because I love the way that she references herself in the song. She makes a reference to her song "Hurricane" (which is great), in the second verse with the lyric, "Do you call yourself a fucking hurricane like me?" She immediately follows that line with the sound that starts "Hurricane." I just thought it was a nice little gem in the song that I noticed one day while listening to it. Sneaky, clever Halsey. *slow claps* The interrogative nature of the verses is also interesting to me and like "Strange Love," it's a kind of a crude song that I find fun to sing to.