Hi, I’m Minato Aquila, formally known as Vee Mitchell, and this is my personal Badlands by Halsey album review! Just a disclaimer, I am entitled to my opinion and what I may like or dislike is completely up to me and may not be true for you.
Badlands is an album released back in 2015 by singer/songwriter, Halsey. Her genre is typically alternative pop however she also delves into other pop related genres! The duration of this album comes out to around fifty-five minutes with songs ranging between three to four minutes.
Track List:
- Castle
- Hold Me Down
- New Americana
- Drive
- Hurricane
- Roman Holiday
- Ghost
- Colors
- Colors, Pt. II
- Strange Love
- Coming Down
- Haunting
- Gasoline
- Control
- Young God
- I Walk the Line
Before I get into the review, I’d like to note that before I listened to the full album, songs I already knew were: Hurricane, New Americana, Colors, Gasoline, Control, and I Walk the Line.
Throughout listening to this album I really liked the beats, I thought they were really suiting for Halsey and the vibes of the tracks in general, not to mention pretty recognizable in my opinion.
This kind of goes into the fact that she is really good at telling the stories she is trying to convey with her music. I absolutely love stories in music and she does it so well; I can really visualize it.
I used to be a Gacha Life kid and listening to Castle really reminded me of those music videos. In fact, it sounded distinctively familiar and I think it used to be a song used during those times.
I really like the meaning of the song, Hold Me Down because apparently Halsey met these really mean men, and I guess they were trying to belittle her, make her feel smaller than she was. In this article, it’s quoted that this song “should be a reminder to never let anything hold you down.” I appreciate that, especially as someone who has felt smaller than others (and not just by height).
The beat in Strange Love reminds me of Tennessee by Meg Myers, however, this is my least favorite song alongside Coming Down and Young God. Except with Coming Down I like the metaphors as much as I hate them.
However… I am absolutely in love with Haunting (in fact, I have it on repeat right now), along with Drive (and a little bit of Ghost). Haunting, though–and if you don’t already know, I’m an author–and this song just inspires me so much and I’m having to resist writing an entire book solely based off of this song alone. The instrumental, lyrics, vocals, all of it. Completely captivating. I feel like a pirate being lured in by a siren in the ocean. <3
A song that I found relatable was Control (and Gasoline). Before I ever read the lyrics and fully listened to it, like really listened to it, I thought Control was an overrated song. So overrated in fact that it wasn’t even that good anymore. After reading the lyrics and listening to it properly, though, I found it extremely relatable. Not to mention how well she explains these feelings. According to many analysis articles on this song, Halsey struggles with Bipolar disorder and because of this she struggles with emotions she marked as personas that take control of her.
“Who is in control?” Repeats, pointing out the fact that sometimes she may or may not be able to tell who is controlling her. I like this idea of “Someone else is controlling me” for a disorder like Bipolar because you can’t always control how you feel or what you do, kind of like the lyric, “I can’t help this awful energy”.
When she says, “And all the kids cried out, ‘Please stop, you’re scaring me’,” then follows with, “I can’t help this awful energy. Goddamn right, you should be scared of me. Who is in control?” Shows her battle of her emotions–these personas she has created. She can be cold, but she doesn’t necessarily like it.
A lyric from this song stuck out to me:
“They beg me to write them so they’ll never die when I’m dead. They beg me to write them so I’ll never die when I’m dead.”
A lyric that overall stuck out to me was in Colors saying:
“And you liked me cause I was blue, but you touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky. Then, you decided purple just wasn’t for you.”
At first I said, “Aw,” but then quickly transitioned into, “Oh.”
Throughout this album I noticed she often references God, the devil, and overall religion and it was put in a way that reminds me of Melanie Martinez’s new album, Hades, which, for me, is not a good thing.
My overall opinion on the album is that it caught my eye, but it was frankly not the best thing I have ever heard. I enjoyed some songs, and I wasn’t a fan of others. I rate this album a good 6/10 (an extra point for Haunting and Control)
Remember: what I may like or dislike is up to me and may not be true for you! I encourage you to listen to the album and share your thoughts! Do you agree or do you disagree on my take?
Minato Aquila, formally known as Vee Mitchell, is a teenage, indie author. She wrote her first book—a novella— Betrayal when she was just twelve and later published it when she was thirteen. Since then, she has been writing her debut novel, Stuck in Laemek, with the underlying message to accept change, for those who fear such. She strives for an audience who will read and love her work, and come to even learn from the art.