Review Summary: And you thought the name was clumsy? Just wait until you hear the album.
Halsey has no self-awareness. Not a single shred. This was evident when she went on a triad about how she's an "alternative" artist and not a pop-star. She even had the audacity to unironically state, "Kendrick [Lamar] has done a Maroon 5 feature, a Taylor Swift feature and a Sia feature - which is more pop features than I've done. And no one's calling him a pop star. But I'm being called one, even though I'm inherently an alternative artist." Such a bold claim needs to be backed up, and Halsey possessed the potential to back up her words with this album. She could've hushed her critics by releasing a powerful, atmospheric, genre defining alternative album, but despite what she most likely believes, this album is far from that.
The album starts with some spoken words by Halsey. She paints a picture of a couple desperate for love, star-crossed lovers in fact, that are bound to be together, but alas their family doesn't condone their relationship and the couple takes their own lives. Any 9th grade student could tell you she ripped this intro, verbatim, out the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. You know, the most cliché love book in history. Despite this, Halsey delivers the verbose lines as if they were the most impactful words ever written, and not the most edgy, pathetic opening to an album in 2017. Within the first two minutes of the album Halsey's lack of self-awareness is apparent.
There is absolutely nothing remotely "alternative" about Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. This is a pop album, both sonically and lyrically. There are no guitars or authentic instruments beside a piano on a couple songs, and every single beat on the album sounds like it could be placed on the latest Katy Perry or Taylor Swift album with ease. Every song has cookie cutter, bland, and interchangeable verses that lead to choruses containing melodies with soul intention to stick inside people's heads for multiple days. These songs were made to be hits. If Halsey was truly an "alternative" artist she wouldn't be complacent with the obvious pandering to the masses she partakes within Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
Halsey's entire album consists of three lyrical themes: imperfect love, sex, and being a "bad girl". Each of these themes have been done to death by pop music, even her own music, and Halsey brings virtually nothing new to the table with any of these topics. Not only are all of these lyrical themes cliché, but they're extremely monotonous. With the repetition of similar themes, songs being to blur and it becomes difficult to distinguish any song lyrically. Any song on the album could be written with another's lyrics and the song would practically contain the exact same tone.
There are very few aspects separating Halsey from other artists. In all fairness, Halsey is a quite talented singer. Her vibrato is nice and she seemingly possesses a nice vocal range. I say seemingly because Halsey rarely ever belts or wales on a note like the instrumentals often beg her to do. As a matter of fact, Halsey sounds completely disinterested in some of her verses such as "Don't Play". When the instrumentals soar on choruses Halsey still sounds as though she's stuck in second gear. She isn't utterly tepid like on some verses, but she also isn't delivering the power that she definitely could reach. Another thing that separates Halsey from her contemporaries is her infatuation with sounding hip and cool, but this falls flat on her face. Whether it's the horrendous pseudo-rapping on "Bad At Love" or the horrible chorus of "Don't Play" where she repeats, "Mother***er don't play with me," she attempts to portray herself as a "bad girl". In actuality, she sounds like an edgy teenager who first discovered rap music, swears constantly, and thinks it's cool to steal her parents' Grey Goose bottle. She's hopelessly oblivious to her immaturity and her lack of self-awareness kills any chance this album has at being decent.
As for specific tracks, many don't stand out. If there is any credit I can concede to Halsey, she doesn't even have the worst moment on her own album. No, that honor goes to Quavo of Migos on the song "Lie". He sings drowned out in layers of autotune in a song with the intention of containing a dramatic tone. It's laughable. The songs "Angel On Fire" and "Heaven In Hiding" have admittedly catchy choruses, but almost every other song struggle to emerge from the crowd.
Halsey needs to wise up and gain a modicum of self-awareness or she is doomed to fall into obscurity deserving of such a bland pop artist masquerading as an "alternative" one.
