As soon as I heard the singer Halsey was putting out a new album, I was excited.
Then as soon as I heard she named her album, Manic, I was suddenly a little put off.
Halsey has bipolar and every fan of her knows it. I have bipolar and almost everyone who knows me knows it. I don't hide it and Halsey doesn't either.
I get a little upset how mental illness is portrayed in some movies these days because having depression is not "fun" or "cute". The manic pixie dream girl is over played.
So when I saw on Twitter that Halsey's new album was called Manic, I was upset. Here we go again, having people think being manic is a good ol' time.
God, MY manic episodes are scary and not fun or cool at all. I don't sleep, I have to keep going, I shake. I was really hoping Halsey wasn't putting manic episodes in a good light. I messaged her a calm message on Twitter asking her to explain what the title meant, but of course, she didn't respond.
I put on Twitter, publicly, about how I hope she wasn't glorifying mental illness. And this random girl on Twitter went and attacked me via words. "SHE'S BIPOLAR, SHE HAS MANIC EPISODES, SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WANTS! SHE'S BIPOLAR! SHE HAS FREE REIGN." I responded with a nice "I do too and manic episodes are not a good time." This girl tried to fight with me again but I didn't respond.
So when the album came out, I put the name of out my mind and listened to it, judgement free. Halsey told fans to listen to the songs in order because it's a whole "experience". So I sat down and listened. Without doing a complete song-by-song, here's what I thought:
The first half of the album, I was sad. But not in a way people think. I was sad that all she sings about is needing a man to live. She sings (a lot) about how she needs validation from a man that she'll she fine. I know people like that personally and I feel sad for THEM too. A girl I know physically gets sick and mentally bad when she doesn't have a man or a relationship. I just...can't fathom. Maybe Halsey is the same way. I hope Halsey is getting therapy.
I did like the song '3am' because it's catchy plus I understood her lyrics a lot. She sings about how it's 3am and she's trying to contact everyone through her phone. It's obviously talking about mania because I've been through the same thing where I need to TALK, not about anything particular, but my mind is running. But like I said, it's catchy.
I don't like any of the 'interludes'. I give her credit for actually singing on them, because most bands just play music during their interludes and it's so boring to me. But short songs don't "WOW" me. Especially these.
It took me about 6 full plays to really like the song "Finally//beautiful stranger". Now, I think it's great. Still about needing a man. But very velvet sounding and her vocals really come out.
"You should be sad". What a great song. It's FINALLY a song about saying BUH BYE to a toxic man. And you guys know I love any song that catchy. The music video doesn't really fit the sound, but I kind of still love it?
"killing boys" is dumb. That's all I'll say.
The worst song, obviously in my opinion, is More. God, I hate saying that because it's about her miscarriages. I've been listening to this album on repeat for hours and this song is so....skip-able. There's no beat. I don't care if it's not a typical pop song, but it's a semi-acoustic. The words are very deep and since I can't connect to this song, it's hard for me to like. I don't WISH I could connect either, given the circumstances she's been through, but I hope other people like it.
The second to last song is "Still Learning" and it's about how she's still learning to love herself. That no one actually knows her and she's trying her best. And even though it's not a particular peppy pop song that you can tap your toes to, the words are really great. It's an insight to her life and it's nice to hear that she owns up to her mistakes when needed.
My absolute favorite song is 929. It's just about her. That's it. Catchy, people can relate but also people can't relate, and it tells a story. I don't really know if it's a 'song' but it's great. Now THAT is what mania is and she's not exploiting it, she telling about how it's affected her.
I applaud her.
Everyone is different. Everyone's mental illness is different. Halsey has life success, I live in my bedroom in Illinois. Our mania is different. It's sometimes difficult for me to hear her talk about her episodes because I used to wish I had money to be Halsey's type of manic. But hearing this album, even though she has the money and the fame, she sounds like she's still suffering like me.
All in all, I give this album
8/10
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