Halsey and country music? The pop star added her own sizzling twist to the genre for the ‘You Should Be Sad’ music video, and she even managed to squeeze in references to Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga and more.
The 2000’s had Jessica Simpson and The Dukes of Hazzard, and now, 2020 has Halsey and her new video for “You Should Be Sad.” Like her daisy duke-wearing predecessor, Halsey delivered just as much cowgirl-themed hotness in short shorts for her brand new video that dropped on Jan. 9! Pairing the booty shorts with a studded bikini top and a cowboy hat, Halsey heated up the country music genre as she danced with her fellow cowgirls and cowboys in a barn that could’ve been mistaken for an Xtina music video set as well! That wasn’t the only pop culture reference fans caught.
Halsey swapped her cowgirl uniform for multiple outfits and beauty looks, which Twitter user @manicktm linked to other pop star icons: Halsey’s glitter tears were a tribute to Carrie Underwood’s “Cry Pretty” music video, her leopard suit was a wink at Shania Twain in “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” and her flowing platinum hair was a direct parallel to an American Horror Story scene featuring Lady Gaga. You can see side-by-side comparisons below!
Now that Halsey’s new single and video is out, we can really hear the clock ticking as we approach the release date of Halsey’s third studio album! Manic will hit fans’ streaming services on Jan. 17, but your listening experience doesn’t have to be limited to Spotify. Halsey will be hitting the road, around the globe, in February — her first stop is Spain! After trekking across Europe for more performances in countries like Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and just about every destination on your bucket list, she’ll be returning to the States for the North American leg of her tour that starts in Seattle, WA in June and wraps up in Irvine, CA in August.
Attendees will be treated to performances from CHVRCHES and Omar Apollo for the first half of the North American tour, while blackbear and PVRIS are tagging along for the second half. Halsey’s last headlining tour, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour, wrapped in 2018, so fans are eagerly waiting to welcome Halsey into their hometowns.
Halsey has been dropping one repeat-worthy track after another throughout 2019, which will all go on the album: “11 Minutes,” “Nightmare,” “Graveyard,” “Clementine,” “Finally // Beautiful” “Stranger,” and — to BTS’ fans delight — “Suga’s Delight“! There’ll be 16 total songs on the track list, including her 2018 hit “Without Me,” which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” chart in Jan. 2019.
Halsey is digging deep beyond her pop star persona for this album: get ready to meet Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, the singer’s real moniker. “The reason this album ended up becoming what it is, which is a very, very personal conversation. It’s part of the reason I’ve been using a lot of Ashley talk in this album, because it does feel very much like a look behind the curtain in a way,” Halsey told fans at an “Evening With Halsey” at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in Sept. 2019, according to Billboard. Halsey added, “A curtain I never intended to put up but it’s just kind of there, because I was young and scared of showing—I didn’t know who I was deeply so it was irresponsible for me to tell the whole world, ‘This is who I am!’ And the world is like, ‘You’re 21, no it’s not.’ I’m going to be 25 in a couple of days, which is terrifying because I still feel 19.”