Halsey - hopeless fountain kingdom | Album Review
- Ryan Paschal
- Jun 3, 2017
- 2 min read
Ashley Frangipane, known under the stage name Halsey, released the followup to one of the best pop albums of 2015, BADLANDS, this Friday. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (stylized as hopeless fountain kingdom) is the second concept album from the artist, HFK's being a modern day Romeo and Juliet.
The opening track entitled "The Prologue" begins with Halsey reading the prologue of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, that then fades into an awkward clearly auto-tuned verse that does not fit the opening what so ever, that being said it is one of the better tracks. Singles "Now or Never", "Eyes Closed" and "Strangers" ft. Lauren Jauregui are all great tracks, "Eyes Closed" and "Strangers" are two of the best tracks from the album, both having radio potential.
"Eyes Closed (Stripped)" (right) is one the best stripped versions of any song I've ever heard. The song was already beautiful, but the stripped version makes it so much more emotional.
"Heaven in Hiding", the first deluxe track for some reason is by far the best track on the album, and one of Halsey's best ever. Halsey always makes her best tracks deluxe, and I've never understood it. "Angel on Fire" the last of three deluxe tracks is also a stand out track on hopeless fountain kingdom. The other deluxe track "Don't Play" is the worst of the three, however, it is significantly better than a large portion of the standard.
In "Devil in Me" and"Angel on Fire", she tackles the Angel/Devil archetype, and does that well. "Alone" is another track with some radio potential, and will likely be the next single, and is one of my personal favorites. "Sorry" is an amazing ballad that showcases Halsey's actual vocals beautiful, this is now one of my favorite Halsey tracks ever. The strange and very unneeded "Good Mourning" is a one minute interlude that is borderline disturbing, the other interlude "Walls Could Talk" is a song that sounds exactly like everything Britney Spears has ever done.
The album closer "Hopeless" ft. Cashmere Cat is one of the best tracks on the album, and has some radio potential. The slightly dance influenced track is one of the only tracks that remotely fits the albums concept. If you are going to make a concept album, make the concept clear, Halsey failed to do that, and it took away from the albums quailty.
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