险恶之地 (2015)

Badlands (stylized in all caps) is the debut studio album by American singer Halsey. It was released on August 28, 2015 through Astralwerks. Musically, Badlands is an electropop, alternative pop, dark pop, and synth-pop record featuring industrial undertones. Halsey wrote every song on the album when she was 19, while production was handled by a number of producers. Norwegian producer Lido was one of the main producers on Badlands.

The album entered Billboard 200 at number two, earning 115,000 equivalent units — including 97,000 in pure album sales. It was eventually certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Badlands found success in many countries outside of the United States; it reached the top ten of the music charts of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was also certified Gold in several countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The album was further promoted by Halsey's debut headlining world concert tour, the Badlands Tour (2015–2016).

The album was preceded by the release of two singles: "Ghost", which was also a re-released single from Halsey's introductory EP Room 93 (2014), and "New Americana", which peaked at number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in the United States, marking Halsey's first appearance on the chart. The third single from the album, "Colors", was released on February 9, 2016, and became the album's most streamed track on Spotify; it also became the album's best-selling track worldwide. A new version of the song "Castle" was released as the album's fourth single to promote the feature film The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016). "Hold Me Down" was released as the first promotional single ahead of the album on June 1, 2015. It was certified Gold in Australia and the US. "Drive" was released as the second and final promotional single on August 21, 2015. The track is certified Gold in the US. Outside of the singles, other tracks from the album that achieved notable certifications were "Gasoline", "Hurricane", and "Control". Furthermore, "Roman Holiday" was featured in the second season of the American TV series Younger and "I Walk the Line" was featured in the teaser trailer for the film Power Rangers (2017).

Composition

The name "Badlands" refers to Halsey's state of mind while writing the album, to give a physical place as a metaphor for a desolate and lonely mind. Musically, it is a pop album in the styles of electropop, alternative pop, dark pop, and synth-pop with industrial undertones.

Production

According to Halsey, Badlands is a concept album focusing on the fictional dystopian society known as The Badlands. A desert wasteland surrounds the city, keeping the inhabitants of The Badlands captive. The album was inspired by post-apocalyptic films such as The Fifth Element. After writing the first few songs, Halsey realized the entire concept was a metaphor for her mental state. Halsey states she created the Badlands to escape from her real-life struggles. In her opinion, the metaphor was even with no escape, there is still hope there is somewhere else to go. Lido served as the album's executive producer.

Singles

"Ghost" was released as Halsey's debut single on

July 28, 2014, with an accompanying music video filmed in Tokyo, which was directed by Malia James and Ryan Witt. "Ghost" was released to radio on April 7, 2015. "New Americana" was released as the second single from the album on July 10, 2015. The official music video premiered on September 25, 2015. The song peaked at number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, being the only single from Badlands to enter the chart. It has since been certified Platinum in Canada, Italy, and the US and Gold in Australia and New Zealand.

Halsey announced "Colors" as the third single on January 21, 2016. It impacted alternative radio on February 9, 2016 with its music video being released a few weeks later on February 25, 2016 featuring Tyler Posey. It reached number eight on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and was certified Silver in the UK, Gold in Australia, and double Platinum in the US. The fourth and final single, "Castle", was released on April 9, 2016 as part of the soundtrack for the film The Huntsman: Winter's War which features an alternative version of the song. The music video later premiered on April 13, 2016 and peaked at number one on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 It was certified Gold in Australia and Platinum in the US.

Promotional singles

On June 1, 2015, Halsey announced via Twitter the pre-order for Badlands along with the release of the album's first promotional single, "Hold Me Down". The song became one of the album's most popular tracks achieving over 100 million streams on Spotify and being certified Gold in Australia and the US. On August 21, 2015, "Drive" was released as the album's second and final promotional single.