release date: 28. august 2015
format: digital (Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Peder Losnegård; mfl.
label: Astralwerks - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Castle" - 2. "Hold Me Down" - 3. "New Americana" - 4. "Drive" - 5. "Hurricane" - 7. "Ghost" - 8. "Colors" - 14. "Control" - 15. "Young God"
Studio album debut by American singer Halsey (aka Ashley Nicolette Frangipane) mainly produced by Norwegian Peder Losnegård (aka Lido), who in addition to being executive producer also is credited as a producer on nine of the standard album's eleven tracks. The Deluxe Edition offers five bonus tracks, but otherwise also has a somewhat different tracklisting, although all eleven tracks of the standard edition are included.
In what seems like from one day to the other, Halsey has made the jump from being an ordinary mortal to be regarded as a celebrity. She started posting videos on Tumblr and YouTube and established 'professional' contact with people of the music industry to make the song "Ghost" - which was then released as a single in the Summer of 2014, after then Astralwerks signed her. The song is also found on her EP debut Room 93 from 2014, and from that also comes the bonus track "Hurricane".
Musically, Halsey represents a bit of a conglomerate of styles, which is quite intelligently packed into beautiful arrangements and uptempo production that is equal parts synthpop and electropop in a cocktail you'd probably call art pop. The music is mostly pop-oriented, but on later releases, inspiration is drawn from grunge rock, and that's nively in line with a personal story of being raised with very diverse music, which again fits well with what you have could say about Danish MØ. Musically, you'll find other similarities with the implication of a sneer inspired by alt. rock and more dance-friendly pop music. The album was released to great reviews and peaked at number #2 on the US Billboard 200 and the Australian Albums Chart, as number #3 in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and it also made it to the exclusive top-10 in the UK. The singles "Ghost", "New Americana", "Colors", and "Castle" didn't reach corresponding top-10 positions but each has nevertheless sold several times "Platinum" in the US, and in 2016, Halsey was awarded the "Rising Star" prize at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.
It's predominantly mainstream pop and as such not really a genre I listen much to, but it's still difficult to ignore the internet phenomenon Halsey - a bit like you cannot ignore names like Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Kanye West, Sia, Beyonce etc - music for the masses, but admittedly, I think Halsey is something special in the way she cleverly manages to incorporate elements from diverse styles and genres, and at the same time she knows how to find the right composers and the matching music producers to with whom to create her music, to establish some sense of having created a new and more original expression - although, in places, you may think of other artists such as Sia, Lorde, and a few others.
Badlands isn't the most epoch-making debut - less will do, and it's basically a pretty decent outing to the great pot of pop releases.
Not a favourite.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
