Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Halsey’s New Album, ‘Manic’
@Hannah Chambers
If you’re a Halsey stan, you understand the importance of keeping your eyes peeled during the months leading up to a new album. The woman drops more Easter eggs than…well, the GD Easter Bunny himself. Rather than spend the rest of your days lurking the darkest depths of stan Twitter for theories, here’s everything you need to know about Halsey’s third album, Manic, in one neat lil package.
HALSEY’S NEW ALBUM’S RELEASE DATE IS JANUARY 17
Yes, this FEELS very far away, but think of all the holidays we have between now and Manic. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmahanukwanzakah, and New Year’s Eve fly by. Honestly, it’s a blessing she’s dropping an album after your wallet has taken that gift-buying hit. (Since you’re probably going to end up blowing your first 2020 paycheck on merch, tickets, and vinyls.)
Halsey announced the date and revealed the cover art in a video where she hand-painted a massive version of the album, because how else would she share the news?
IT’S HER FIRST ALBUM AS “ASHLEY”
As you probs know, Halsey’s real name is Ashley Frangipane. And ICYMI, she’s started writing songs as Ashley now. The first one was “Without Me,” which she explained the process of in an interview last year. Basically, that just means she’s writing as herself without a character.
Her Twitter header, social media bios, and some cryptic messages she sent fans all say, “Hi, my name is Ashley. It’s nice to meet you.”
It’s also the first album she’s shown her face on the cover of. V interesting!
Also, the album cover says “A1” and “H3,” which could totally mean Ashley one and Halsey three, right? So…it’s most likely safe to assume that we can expect this era to be from Ashley’s point of view instead of Halsey’s.
HER HAIR IS QUITE LITERALLY FULL OF SECRETS
Yeah, Halsey changes her hair more frequently than most people change their socks, but this time, she might be using it to throw us little hints. One fan tweeted that on the album art, she’s rocking her natural hair, but they pointed out that it’s also blue, blonde, red, and black, which is kind of like a timeline of her career so far. Halsey favorited the tweet, which pretty much confirms that this is true. I don’t make the rules, okay?!
BUT…THE COLOR SCHEME COULD ALSO BE TIED TO THE MANIC TITLE
Halsey also favorited a tweet in which a fan shared a theory that the rainbow aesthetic of the album is inspired by a scan of a brain in a manic state.
Another fan pointed out that this scan looks suspiciously similar to her multicolored butterfly merch.
So…either both rainbow theories are correct or she’s just straight-up trolling at this point.
“NIGHTMARE” WON’T BE ON THE ALBUM
According to a deleted tweet, her recent single “Nightmare” won’t be on the album, as it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the tracks.
THE ALBUM HAS “GASOLINE” LEVELS OF ENERGY WITH INTENSE LYRICS
She says the new tracks “aren’t angry” and will have “introspective lyrical content.”
In an interview with Zane Lowe, Halsey explained that she originally set out to write a dark, angry album…but then realized she wasn’t angry anymore.
This post will be updated as new information is available…or whenever new Easter eggs start floating around Twitter.