Halsey - You Should Be Sad: An Emotionally Potent Reprimand With A Curiously Country Vibe

Manic – An album true to its name in its fantastically erratic hybridisation of unrelated genres and emotions. The album’s tracks are revealed in intimate, vulnerable and unpredictable voyages through Halsey’s mind as she bravely magnifies the somewhat disagreeable traits of her personality. Sonically, the album is a chaotic blend of pop, rock and hip-hop, interspersed with film dialogue, conversation clips and even Korean rap. Yet standing as, perhaps, the album’s most surprising sonic escapade is the emotionally potent reprimand, ‘You Should Be Sad’, a break-up note with a curiously heavy country vibe.

Immediate and effortless comfortability within the Southern-rooted genre is demonstrated as Halsey executes stunning three-part harmonies with a self-assured finger-picking guitar pattern. Upon initial reception, the country sound world of 'You Should Be Sad' causes mild distraction due to its profound bifurcation from the typically electronic, alternative pop Halsey usually traverses. Yet, the decision to explore country must be admired as a logical and measured response to the transfiguration of heartbreak into song form. With some of the angriest, and saddest, songs birthed in country music, it is superbly fitting that Halsey establish this scathing scrawl within its boundaries.

At its core, 'You Should Be Sad' is a bold and brilliant break-up song. Her lyrics, saturated in unflinching anger and honesty, are delivered with growling menace as she spits lines like ‘You’re not half the man you think that you are,' and leading up to the chorus, Halsey utilises every syllabic opportunity as a cornerstone with which to destroy her ex, barely allowing herself time to breathe as she embarks on an angry rampage of unusual specificity. It is instantaneously clear that Halsey is, perhaps, one of the most witty, genre-fluid artists of this generation – a musical chameleon who can very capably blend to other genres as if she has always belonged there.