Halsey is on the cover of the latest Billboard magazine.
The conversation moves to Halsey’s presence on social media, and how she insists on having a direct relationship with her fans. Halsey says that she “talk(s) to them like real f—ing human beings, because they are…” Even though it can be hard sometimes, especially when it’s comes to a certain sense of entitlement, she still feels “psyched” to be able to connect with her worldwide fan base.
Halsey also took a moment to comment on her performance with Justin Bieber on TODAY, the American morning television show. Halsey made a guest appearance in order to sing “The Feeling”, a song she is featured in on Bieber’s latest album. She said “It was a f—ing train wreck,” and that “You don’t know fear until it’s 7 a.m. and freezing cold on live television and you’re not sure if Justin Bieber is going to kiss you or not.”
The singer has been praised for being an outspoken feminist, and an openly bisexual woman speaking out against the heteronormative culture. She’s also a proud Bernie Sanders supporter, with her current Twitter name being “bernie sanders fan”. In the story, Halsey talks about her family and her mixed heritage. She comments that she is “looking for a person who will make sure my 17-year-old brother doesn’t get killed someday because he’s half-black” and she is willing to “lose 50 percent of [her] income every year” to make sure this happens.
On an even more personal note, Halsey took a moment to reflect back on her teenage years. She tells how she came to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and for a brief few weeks, she was put into a mental health facility. She said it was because she was young and tried to commit suicide – also commenting saying it was “terrifying” because she “was in there with 9-year-olds who had tried to kill themselves.”
For her, the worst part of being in a psychiatric hospital was “no TV, no music, no nothing”. On the day of her release, she heard a song again and had a moment of realization of “how important music was to [her] before that.” Halsey had poured her life into her Tumblr account (se7enteenblack), so to have no access to it inside, she was devastated. It earned her over 10,000 followers and countless international friendships.
The story continues with the mention of one of the most important people around her, Lido, who was the producer of Halsey’s debut album Badlands. The two have been long time friends, and on-and-off again lovers. According to Ringen, Halsey and Lido (Peder Losnegard) currently live together in a new house in Sherman Oaks, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
Talking about her ever-growing popularity, she says that “I hate being a prisoner.” Her fan base is always on top of the star’s location, so when she travels to new places, there are thousands of fans wanting to find and meet her. She goes on to say that she loathes the words “famous” and “celebrity”. And to distance herself even more, she refers to the people around her as her “camp”.
The cover story concludes with a powerful message from Halsey. “I could be having the worst day of my life, hate my body, think I’m fat, think I suck, and as soon as I hear the first few notes of my intro, that all goes away,” she says. “Everything that I hate about myself goes away when I walk onstage. That’s why I cling to it so much — it keeps me from killing myself.”
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