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Halsey - 'The Great Impersonator'


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Posted

Panic Attack is probably the next single. Spotify put it on my music radar.

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Posted

I don't like a genre salad type of album too often but this is pretty solid. She kind of gets too on the nose with trying to be raw and poetic sonically and lyrically at points but that's always been her throughout her discography. I don't love every song but I totally respect the vision and the lyrics though. Darwinism in particular is spectacular and the best song on the album. 

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Posted
36 minutes ago, Maroon legacy said:

Panic Attack is probably the next single. Spotify put it on my music radar.

And that's the one on NMF

Posted

Okay, my track-by-track review below. I put it under the spoilers tag, because there's so many songs and i don't want the post to look super long while people scroll the page:

 

Only Living Girl in LA - What a way to start an album!! I love how it builds and the outro is simply amazing, kinda gives the idea of finale, death or that she just entered a time machine so the whole album concept kicks off. It's just perfect. 10/10


Ego - Classic Halsey, it sits with 3AM and Honey on her pop punk holy trinity. I feel like it was a perfect choice for a single since it doesn't sound too far off from her music nor out of place on this album. 10/10


Dog Years - It's so... cinematic? And kinda dark? Idk why but it gives me some terror/sci-fi movie vibes from the 90s. It doesn't sound like anything she did before and i love it so much :jonny: 10/10


Letter to God (1974) - I like how it sounds so low quality and the whole vibe is meant to sound like an old song. There's a bit of the melody that i wanted to be more present in the song, but it isn't unfortunately. Other than that, it's a pretty competent interlude!! 8/10


Panic Attack - Obsessed with the Fleetwood Mac vibes and if you're looking for a cute pop bop this one's for you. I'm not sure if it would be a good single but after the ones she released it seems like the most obvious choice. 10/10


The End - It's such a raw, deep, beautiful song. I loved it but barely listened to it cause its honesty made me almost unconfortable to sit through, but on the album it def makes more sense. 9/10


I Believe in Magic - This got to be the album's biggest surprise for me cause i just thought it was cute when the snippet came out but the whole thing is SO beautiful. At the beggining you're like "ok, this is cute" but then it grabs you and you just don't want it to end even though it's almost 5 minutes long. Also, Ender in the background is sooo cute :weeps: 10/10


Letter to God (1983) - It sounds like a live recording from the 80s and i'm obsessed with it cause she was invested on that concept in every single detail. The lyrics are also painfully raw, sad and honest but the whole thing sounds great. 9/10


Hometown - Yeehawsey is back and this one sounds cute. I think she has better country songs though, but this works well. The "ooooh" parts reminds me SO much by Linger from The Cranberries and that was def on purpose... i wish she sampled the melody or the song itself bc it's one of my favorite songs of all time. 8/10


I Never Loved You - I've always liked this one, even though it sounds a bit filler-ish and it feels like an hfk scrap. The post chorus itself reminds me of "Hopeless" and some people even pointed that out on Twitter. The whole vibe doesn't give me Kate Bush at all but it's more like a alt-pop track in a Jack Antonoff landscape. 8/10


Darwinism - I thought this one was okay at the beggining but then it took a different turn halfway there and got me hooked, another amazing song and i love the layers of it. 9/10


Lonely is the Muse - A classic and def one of the best songs of their career, hands down. I hope she does more songs with that vibe in the future, PLEASE :jonny: 10/10


Arsonist - This one is so hypnotic and different from anything she ever did or in the mainstream right now. It sounds so seductive (?) for some reason, i can understand why she almost left off the tracklist but thank God she didn't 9/10


Life of the Spider - Her tone!!! The deep lyrics!! I'm just floored by this and how she sounds on this. Def her most painful and beautiful ballad, just no words 10/10


Hurt Feelings - This is the closest of a "filler" on this album; idk why but it sounds like a mainstream song that was desconstructed to fit it better here. However, i like how they changed the pitch of their voice so she sounds younger (she said this one is meant to be by her 18yo self) and how it serves as a bridge from LOTS to Lucky. 7/10


Lucky - Most people don't like this but i honestly enjoy it. It's the "Graveyard" of this album somehow and serve its purpose, it's the obvious radio single. I wish the production went a lil harder, but with the rest of the album it sounds better and more appropriate. 8/10


Letter to God (1998) - Painful and beautiful, it's the best LTG out of the 3. I love how Ender is on the song too, it makes it even more sadder :weeps: it's def the most pop and melodic one, and i liked that a lot. 10/10


The Great Impersonator - It works so well as a closer, basically her final statement based on everything she said here. It's more pop than i expected and gives me the whole magician vibe she was going for at the early beggining for the era, so it wraps it really nice. 9/10

 

The album is beyond amazing and def my personal AOTY. She could've easily made a sad girl photoshoot and create a bunch of piano ballads about her pain, but instead she decided to go further and explore different aspects of their artistry and came with an amazing concept that works so well!


I think she picked the right singles. Lucky is the closest of a "radio pop hit" sounding song on this album, while Ego is the most classic Halsey song. LITM was always meant to be a fan favorite, while INLY sounds like "Taydaughter" music that's currently trendy. The End to introduce her current life situation was a pretty smart move too. Maybe Panic Attack should come next, and that's it. It's not an album made for the charts at all and i don't see the TikTok crowd embracing it, but not everything was meant to be a huge success and i would be bored if she just did multiple songs that sounds like Without Me or Eastside just to get easy hits after IICHLIWP flopped.


She matured so much during the years, lyrically, sonically. I think Halsey as an artist now is everything her BADLANDS self aspired to be but didn't know how to do it, or was still so young to do so. Her acknowledge of music definetely elevated and album after album she keeps getting better with her art. A shame this won't get the attention deserved but i'm glad she got mine.

 

 

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Posted

'Panic Attack' is truly my favorite Halsey song. The way this melody pulls at my spirit and her channeling of Stevie Nicks is beyond incredible. It's a beautiful homage to 'Seven Wonders'. I cannot wait for her to perform this live. Her artistry has so much range. 

Posted (edited)

Finally listening, it just came out 20 minutes ago for me... I feel so immersed so far!!!

 

Edit: Holy ****... I was NOT expecting Darwinism to hit me so hard :gaycat7:

Edited by psychodiva336
Posted

Panic Attack kinda does sound a little Fleetwood Mac inspired. 

Posted

70 by Slant Magazine

 

Quote

This could be interpreted as a superficial understanding of one's own influences, but while Halsey's references are often obvious—the backing tracks to "Letter to God (1983)" and "Panic Attack" are dead ringers for Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," respectively—they rarely feel derivative. That's due, in large part, to Halsey's clear vision of both herself as an artist and The Great Impersonator as a concept album. So what if the most prominent feature of a song attributed to Björk's impact on Halsey as an artist is a string sample obviously inspired by Enya's "Orinoco Flow"? Nobody could ever mistake these songs for anyone's other than Halsey's.

https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/halsey-the-great-impersonator-album-review/

 

Posted (edited)

The album pleasantly exceeded my expectations and is likely her second-best, just behind the unbeatable IICHH, IWA :loki:

 

Standout tracks: Dog Years, Panic Attack, The End, I Believe in Magic, Hometown, Darwinism, Lonely is the Muse, Arsonist, Life of the Spider, and Letter to God (1998). 

 

I wish she went in a more new wave direction for the '80s influenced tracks; 70s and '90s songs were executed best. Overall my little stan heart is pleased though and I can't wait to listen more over the weekend.

 

Edited by Reverse Warholian
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Posted

The run from Darwinism to Hurt Feelings is the shining highlight of the album. 

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Posted

Her best album, so beautiful

Posted

crazy that i first listened to her when Room 93 dropped and they've given so many great albums to us since…. this is definitely the best yet though.

 

it's brutal how honest she was on this record & that's saying something for someone who's already known to be a raw lyricist. brilliant 

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Posted

Finished my first listen... This is such a heavy album. Listening to it and hearing all these lyrics feels like you're swimming through tar. There's a great amount of honesty and pain in every song on here with all the mentions of death, sickness, pain, trauma, fear and the passage of time. There were numerous moments where I teared up - most notably during Letter To God (1983), The End, I Believe In Magic and Darwinism. 

What an album!! I loved Halsey before, but now this just added a completely new layer of respect and admiration. Beautifully heartbreaking

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Posted

Will this album hit going thru a break up?

Posted

This is NOT the album for HFK stans. If you loved Manic, this is for you.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, mypaintoyou said:

Will this album hit going thru a break up?

Yes or tragic events in your life.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Maroon legacy said:

Panic Attack is probably the next single. Spotify put it on my music radar.

It's the only safe one :dies: I expect this to do Manic numbers, but a little bit worse. It's gonna be so underappreciated and overhated since she did all those impersonations. I love Halsey but ain't nothing on here sound like Bjork. Fiona Apple writing though :clap3:

Posted

Arsonist is kinda SOTY, isn't it? :-*

 

@TalkThatRihanna found sharting in @Walk_Away21's wig. 

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Posted (edited)

Yup, it's official. 

 

IICHHIWA > TGI > M > B > HFK

 

n8BViye.gif

 

@original_lifeline @The Witch @AshleyLovescats887

Edited by Reverse Warholian
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Posted

panic attack, arsonist, darwinism, hurt feelings >>>>

 

:ghostface:

Posted

I've been a really good dog, can I come inside?

Yeah, I've been such a good girl, can I go for a ride?

I'm on a real short leash, but I like it tight

You know I'm such a sweet girl, but I can really bitе (I can really bite) 

 

trampoline-exercise.gif

 

@Infernal Paradise

Posted
9 minutes ago, Cherish said:

The only true ranking

 

n8BViye.gif

 

Close enough. 

 

n8BViye.gif

 

Posted

The way early 2010's Halsey is Manic. We've heard all of the eras.

 

n8BViye.gif

 

Posted (edited)

The outro of Hurt Feelings 

 

47051bbd07e3f7e255414a162dd3f5f8.gif

 

 

 

Edited by Reverse Warholian
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