Home Arts & LifestyleReview Manic About Manic

Manic About Manic

by Rachel Burke

Halsey (Ashley Frangipane) released her third album “Manic” on Friday, Jan. 17. The album consists of 16 songs, including five songs that have already been released including “Without Me,” “Graveyard” and “Clementine” 

The album has a lot of features on it including Alanis Morisette, BTS’s Suga and Dominic Fike. She also included some movie excerpts and a voice mail from John Mayer. In her song “killing boys,” she includes dialogue from the movie “Jennifer’s Body” with Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox. The first song on the album, “Ashley,” has a quote from Kate Winslet’s character in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” 

This album is a heartfelt and intimate insight into the mind of the 25-year-old singer. She named the first song after herself, and the last song “929” is named after her birthday. Some songs are about love, but even most of the love songs are more about her own struggles as a person and how she uses falling in love to escape her own thoughts. 

The album flows effortlessly from one track to the next. She uses Mayer’s voicemail at the end of “3am” to set up the next track “Without Me.” On the voicemail, Mayer congratulates her on the Billboard Hot 100 hit claiming not many people have their best song playing on the radio, calling the song a “massive hit.” Just before “Dominic’s Interlude” Halsey sings a similar verse at the tail end of “Forever … (is a long time).” While I was listening to it the first time, it was hard to tell where some songs ended and others began because the melodies flowed together so easily.

Some songs on the album mirror a slam poetry style lyrically and musically. She also has a few songs that could fall under a country genre. This album is an honest articulation of some of Halsey’s most vulnerable thoughts. It’s different from her other albums, and it is definitely softer than her other releases. It’s a nice contrast to the single she released months before this album, “Nightmare,” that was a beautifully honest but angry feminist anthem. Overall, this album is worth a listen (in order, from start to finish!)

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