Halsey, The Great Impersonator ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❌
Halsey is back with her first new album in three years. The promo for this album has gone a bit viral, and you’ve probably seen it. But if you haven’t, it’s her dressing up as a specific influence on a particular song on this album. For example, one song is Björk, one is Joni Mitchell, another is David Bowie, etc. This sets the stage for the concept of this album which is that she’s the titular Great Impersonator, and she channels different genres and sounds reminiscent to other artists.
Now, when I first saw all of this, and heard the story behind it, I thought this was either going to fall flat on its face, or it’ll be really great. I mean, I do love me a hodgepodge album as long as it’s cohesive and all of the parts work. And by God, Halsey pulled it off. None of the genre shifts or different styles sound forced or out of place. It all sounds natural and together. And they all sound like Halsey songs when you get down to it. It’s not like she’s just plagiarizing songs.
The thing that really stunned me though was that there are two concepts running concurrently on this album. One is a personal story about her health and motherhood, and the other is the aforementioned genre shifting. This is ambitious, and really pays off. It justifies its long runtime.
Favorite song: “Arsonist”
