Halsey is set to release her sophomore album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, on June 2 and yesterday she released her track list in the uniquest way possible. A lucky fan in cities across the U.S woke up to to a customized newspaper on their doorstep.
The newspaper, titled The Kingdom Times, features a city and date which fans have concluded to be tour dates and places for this fall. The newspaper also features stories about the “Kingdom” as Halsey works to further develop the world in which her sophomore album exists.
This isn’t the first time Halsey has done interactive events with her fans. As she has taken her dedicated fanbase through her debut EP, Room 93, and her debut album, Badlands, she has worked tirelessly to bring fans into the world that the collection existed in.
In order to achieve this, Halsey has interacted with her fans on an intimate level most artists never reach. She has sent them on hunts across the world to discover the pieces to the puzzle that is her life and her music.
As we look back at her previous eras and get ready to enter a new one we must appreciate all that Halsey has done for her fans to share her music with them in the most intimate way possible.
Badlands:
The most important thing to understand about Badlands is that is a concept album. This means that each song is a small part of a story — her story. Everything Halsey did for her fans was in order to tell the story.
To announce her debut album Halsey tweeted that it was time to leave the Room 93 and enter the Badlands. She also released limited edition merchandise to celebrate the announcement. This was the start of a interactive journey between Halsey and her fans as she let them live with her in the Badlands.
we left ROOM 93
and we entered the BADLANDS.— h (@halsey) December 2, 2014
Halsey launched two events one prior and one after the release of the album. These were both small intimate events with fans that Halsey conducted to personally connect with her fans.
The first was Badlands Air. Taking place on August 28, 2015 (two days prior to the release of her album) Los Angeles fans were invited to depart to the Badlands. The event was a precedeor to the album release party to follow that week. In order to gain entrance to the party one must have gotten a boarding pass form the Badlands Air Travel Agency. Along with getting access to the show fans also received exclusive merchandise including pens, pins, and shirts.
Postcards, pens, pins, and boarding passes fans received at Badlands Air.
The second event was Badlands Hair which took place on September 13, 2015. Halsey took over BLEACH salon in London’s Soho and dyed the hair of five lucky fans blue and/or pink to match the colors of the Badlands cover.
With an album almost always comes a tour and starting in September 2016 Halsey embarked on the Badlands Tour. Not coming to a close until she played a sold out show at Madison Square Garden in August 2016, the tour was split into three installments.
For each installment Halsey released Camp Badlands, an intimate VIP experience. Each installment’s version of Camp Badlands came with different perks; however, they all included an intimate soundcheck performance and chances to meet the singer.
During installment one fans received a customized passport, a badlands bracelet, sand early entrance to the show. For installment two fans received a signed CD with demos and unreleased tracks from the making of Badlands. And for installment three fans received a tour laminate, a bandanna, a customized shirt, and early entrance, along with an intimate q&a session.
To close out the Badlands Tour Halsey played for a sold out crown at Madison square garden in NYC. Instead of releasing Camp Badlands for this date Halsey sent fans on the Badlands Hunt. Meet and greet passes were placed all around NYC and fans had to find them. Releasing clues on her twitter through a series of poems Halsey sent fans all across town to spots that had significance to her including: Halsey St. and her record label, Astralwerks.
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom:
Even though the album is not set to release until June Halsey has already sent her fans on an interactive journey to transition from the Badlands to the Kingdom.
To reveal the title and album cover Halsey sent fans all over the world on a scavenger hunt looking for a USB port with pieces of the cover. Releasing coordinates for cities one by one fans were sent racing to these spots so they could be the ones to reveal the artwork. All around the world fans could watch as pieces were added to the cover.
Halsey has also held 2 private listening parties in London and Los Angeles were fans were able to listen to songs of the sophomore album and ask her their questions about the new era.
This is only a small list of all of the intimate events Halsey has held for her fans. When she’s not putting on these events Halsey can be seen meeting fans after each stop on her tours and constantly dming them on Twitter about her music and fans’ personal lives.
Halsey is an artist who puts fans before herself, as demonstrated by all of the events listed above. She works tirelessly to make sure her fans have the best experience they possibly could when listening to her music or attending her shows. It’s bigger than the music; it’s a relationship between her and her fans that is unlike any other.
