Hopeless Fountain Kingdom

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom
Studio album by Halsey
Released	June 2, 2017 (2017-06-02)
Recorded	2016–17
Genre	Pop[1][2] synth-pop[3]
Length	48:43
Label	Astralwerks Virgin EMI
Producer	Benny Blanco Cashmere Cat Happy Perez Greg Kurstin Ricky Reed Lido Rogét Chahayed
Halsey chronology
Badlands (2015)Badlands2015 Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (2017)
Singles from Hopeless Fountain Kingdom
"Now or Never" Released: April 4, 2017 (2017-04-04) "Bad at Love" Released: August 22, 2017 (2017-08-22)

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (stylized as hopeless fountain kingdom) is the second studio album by American singer Halsey, released on June 2, 2017, through Astralwerks.^[4]

Background and composition

Halsey released her debut studio album Badlands in August 2015.^[5][6] It charted at number two on the US Billboard 200, and went on to sell 500,000 copies in the country.^[7][8] According to Halsey in an interview with Rolling Stone in March 2017, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a concept album, like her previous album Badlands. The story centers on a pair of lovers in a limbo-like realm that connects to the futuristic setting of the previous album: "I was a big comic-book kid... a big Marvel nerd", she stated.^[9] Halsey has stated her debut album wasn't supposed to be "a radio album," but expects Hopeless Fountain Kingdom to generate some airplay, "I am more than capable of writing radio music... and hopefully I'll put my money where my mouth is on this album." However, she still sees herself as "an alternative artist."^[9] For the album, Halsey worked with several producers, including Greg Kurstin, Benny Blanco and Ricky Reed.^[9]

The album is inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. The introduction of the opening track "The Prologue" features the play's prologue spoken by the singer. The music video for "Now or Never" was heavily influenced by Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film adaptation of Romeo + Juliet. The video was filled with neon lights and Lurhman's signature visual aesthetic. The story follows a gender-swapped version of the "star-crossed lovers" as viewed by Halsey.^[10]

Billboard has pointed out that the album title might be named after a real fountain built by Halsey's ex-boyfriend off the L train's Halsey Street stop in Brooklyn.^[8][11]

Promotion

Halsey referenced the album as early as 2014, posting "(and the Kingdom)" on Twitter,^[12] and in 2016 when playing in Madison Square Garden she displayed the words "you can find me in the Kingdom" on a screen.^[11] In February, she invited 100 fans in London to a church to hear four new songs from the album.^[13]

In March, multiple Twitter accounts connected to Halsey began hinting at a storyline present in the album, seemingly involving two characters named Luna and Solis belonging to two different houses called the House of Aureum and the House of Angelus. Soon after the tweets were released, Halsey began mailing out quotes from Romeo and Juliet to fans.^[11] In the first song on the album titled "The Prologue," Halsey recites the beginning lines of the play. The story of Luna and Solis in Hopeless Fountain Kingdom takes significant influence from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in particular the Baz Luhrmann directed adaptation Romeo + Juliet. Halsey and Luhrmann would later be interviewed by Beats 1's Zane Lowe about their respective adaptation processes.^[14]

The album was announced on March 7, 2017 via Halsey's Twitter account, along with a photograph of her holding a rose, and on March 23, announced the release date of June 2, 2017.^{[15][16][17][18]}

To release the album cover, she had a global scavenger hunt, where miniature gun shaped USB's were hidden in 9 cities around the world with pieces of the cover. When all the pieces were found, they revealed the album cover art along with the announcement of the first single, "Now or Never".

Tour

On May 3, 2017, Halsey announced the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom World Tour.^[19]

Singles

The album's lead single, "Now or Never", was released on April 4, 2017 along with its pre-order. The same day, the song's music video, co-directed by Halsey with Sing J Lee, was premiered. The single debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became her first single as a lead artist to reach the top 40 and her first since "Closer". So far, it has peaked at No. 17. "Bad at Love" has been announced by Halsey on her Twitter account as the next single of the album.^[20]

Promotional singles

On May 4, 2017, "Eyes Closed" was released as the first promotional single.^[21] On May 26, "Strangers", featuring Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui, was released as the second promotional single. It debuted at No. 100 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became Halsey's sixth entry and Jauregui's first as a solo artist.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.7/10[22]
Metacritic	66/100[23]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[24]
Consequence of Sound	B[25]
NME	[26]
The Observer	[27]
Pitchfork	6.5/10[28]
Rolling Stone	[3]
PopMatters	[29]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 66 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 10 reviews.^[23]

Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone stated Halsey "shows off all her wild musical ambitions" on her "bold" second album. "It's her sprawling science-fiction breakup tale, indulging her taste for wide-screen melodrama." Musically, he opined the singer is "going for adult dystopian synth-pop realness."^[3] For The Observer, Kitty Empire noted Halsey's "generic guest spot on a massive 2016 hit by The Chainsmokers, 'Closer', was an omen" as the album "does succumb to post-hit syndrome. It is not remotely bad; it certainly sounds just like one of the most hotly awaited pop albums of 2017. But you can discern, just off stage, the chorus of unignorable industry types bearing down on one bankable creative, advising this timely collaboration, that hot producer, this set of references."^[27]

Jon Caramanica in The New York Times opined it "liberally borrows styles from other singers." He highlighted "where Halsey sets herself apart is in her subject matter and manner of delivery. Her tales have rough edges and ellipsis endings," however, "there isn't a flicker of musical edge on this album, only a belief in the crowdsourcing of ideas."^[30] USA Today's Maeve McDermott expressed similar sentiments in a mixed review, noting that the album "borrows magpie-like from other stars' signature sounds, with some working better than others."^[31]

Rolling Stone staff considered it the 7th best album of the first half of 2017.^[32]

Commercial performance

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 106,000 album-equivalent units, of which 76,000 were pure album sales, making Halsey the first female artist in 2017 to do so.^[33] In Australia, the album debuted at number two with first-week sales of 4,300 copies.^[34] The album debuted at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 7,123 copies in its first week.^[35]

Track listing

The standard edition includes 13 songs while the deluxe edition includes 16 songs, reordered to fit an ordered story-like telling. In the United States, physical copies of the deluxe edition are only available at Target stores for a limited time. Credits taken from iTunes liner notes.^[36]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer

Sample credits

• "Alone" contains a sample from "Nothing Can Stop Me", written by Tony Hester and recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr..

Personnel

Credits adapted from the deluxe edition of Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.^[37]

Performers and musicians

Production

Design and management

Charts

References