My introduction to this week's tune was an acoustic version Halsey performed on the TV show Roadies (this is the fourth song featured on FNJ that I discovered on its ten episodes). While I've never been able to find the acoustic version anywhere else, it did lead me to check out the original, which in and of itself was a very nice listening surprise and turned out to be one hell of a song.
Halsey hails from New Jersey, and released her first album in 2015 at the ripe old age of twenty-one. Over the course of the last six years, she has had quite the influence on both music and American culture. She is a fierce advocate for women, sexual assault survivors, mental health, racial justice, and LGBTQ issues. At the 2018 Women's March Halsey performed a five minute poem called "A Story Like Mine" which detailed sexual assault and violence in her life and was hailed around the world. Musically, she has released three albums, one of which reached #1 on the Billboard 200 with the other two reaching #2. Halsey has also released 21 singles, with two # 1's (one with the Chainsmokers), and four others that have hit the top ten. She's also been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and has toured after the release of each of her albums. It's quite a resume for a woman who will turn twenty-seven later this year.
"Hold Me Down" was the first single released from her first album, Badlands, though it was released as a promotional single rather than a traditional single. Still, it has had over 100 millions streams on Spotify and has been certified platinum.
Fun Fact: Despite her rather busy musical career and activism, Halsey has found time to get 29 tattoos, one of which features a lyric from Friday Night Jukebox honoree "Loser" by Beck.
While doing my half-assed research for this week's post, I read that while Halsey definitely had musical influences, she felt as if filmmakers were actually a bigger influence on her art. And as I listened to this week's tune several times in the run-up to writing this post, I noticed that the music in "Hold Me Down" is often very much like the soundtrack of a movie--it adds a sense of urgency and it illuminates her overarching message and its delivery. She has said that the song was about an asshole of a man who tried to make her feel small and how she wanted to tell everyone not to let anyone make you feel small, and Halsey delivers a defiant performance. Her staccato vocals are full of a cadence that illuminates a headstrong woman's call to arms. It's a tour de force for a young woman who is wise beyond her years, and whose convictions are strong in word and deed.
Lyric Sheet: "Hold me down, hold me down/Throw me in the deep end, watch me drown/Knock me out, knock me out/Saying that I want more, this is what I live for..."
Enjoy:
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Peace,
emaycee
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