On Friday, June 2, Halsey released her sophomore album “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” and shocked listeners around the world.

Before the release of her album, Halsey had collaborated with The Chainsmokers on their hit “Closer” and more people began to hear her music and grew to like her. The singer released her first album “Badlands” in 2015 and has grown a lot in her career since then.

Her new album does exactly what the first one did, but in a totally different way. While “Badlands” told the story of her inner struggle with herself, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” tells the story of two star-crossed lovers as it is in the famous Shakespeare play “Romeo and Juliet”. Halsey went above and beyond and created her own characters, Luna and Solis. Luna comes from the house of Angelus and Solis from the house of Aureum. The album begins with a prologue that consists of Halsey reciting the first part of “Romeo and Juliet”. If you listen to the album in order, you will find that each song is placed strategically to tell the story of two lovers, while also presenting the struggles Halsey went through in a prolonged breakup that lasted over the span of a few years.

In her new songs “Bad at Love”, “Alone” and “Strangers” Halsey depicts her past relationships with girls as well. In her song titled “Strangers”, Halsey sings with Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony and they tell their own story of two girls who are in love with each other and seem to be singing to one another.

Halsey also collaborated with artists such as Sia and the Weeknd, but made sure that she wrote every single lyric because she believed that each song needed to be how she wanted it and tell her story the way she wanted it told.

The day before the release of her album, Halsey hosted a free pop-up and concert in Los Angeles and allowed fans to experience the album before it even came out. The following day she tweeted out that she was going to a Target and took the time to buy out all of her albums and gave them to fans who showed up, while also making sure to meet each one and sign the copy for them. The most special and intimate event, however, took place at Webster Hall in New York City, where she played her first headlining show and only allowed 400 people to attend.

After the album release, Halsey became the first female to have a number one album top the charts in 2017. In the last year, Halsey was one of four female solo artists to have the top album on the Billboard 200 charts.

“Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” is a unique album and allows its listeners not only to listen to good music, but experience a story told through lyrics rather than words on a page.