My thoughts on Room 93 by Halsey
Room 93 is an EP by Halsey, released on October 27th, 2014. Coincidentally, it was released on the same day as 1989 by Taylor Swift, making that day as one for the books, as we could experience the biggest pop album by a country artist by the time as well as the debut of an artist that would help to shape the indie and melancholic side of pop at the time. With inspirations like Lana del Rey’s Ultraviolence, Halsey created her presentation card for the world by displaying her talents on song-writing, production, her unique voice and the depths of her performances; her whole identity (at the time) in only 5 songs. Here we can find dark themes and aesthetics, with no fear in telling a story and making us fall in love with her, Halsey.
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In this entry you will find my thoughts about the album as a whole and something for every song. Everyone has their own opinion, so feel free to comunicate yours, and read mine!
Is There Somewhere
Starting with a hotel room pictured in our minds, Halsey brings us a song about the start of a new relationship, even when she didn’t wanna start anything, she just wanted peace and this new person came out of nowhere to disturb her state of mind, creating new feelings impossible to stop. At the end, she realizes she can’t deal with the denial anymore, she accepts this new love and what could come out of it.
Ghost
This is the song that started all for Halsey, her first official single. Halsey reflects on a person, someone that was very close to her and all of a sudden disappears, but not physically, she just doesn’t feel their emotions connected to their body the same way as before, and that’s why seeing them is like seeing a Ghost, just the memory of who was there before.
Hurricane
This song tells us the story about a girl, presumably an 18 year-old, who is falling into a guy she knows it’s bad news, but she’s being conscious about it, she knows what’s going on and accepts that’s what she wants, just for once, to be a one-night stand, to don’t belong to anyone, to be herself not tied to anything that could repress her thoughts, she wants to feel like a Hurricane for once in her life.
Empty Gold
Here we find ourselves with a song that is not just an audio file, is an experience, described by the artist herself as cinematic and epic. Maybe this one don’t have the best story-telling, but we have the catharsis of the EP. With a chorus singing along Halsey, Empty Gold is an anthem to the underdogs, the misunderstood people who don’t know what they actually want or think of life.
Trouble
Finally, Halsey opens up about an abusive relationship, maybe a real one or a story made up for the song, we’ll never know. The lead voice sings about a figure that sleeps in her bed, that fills themselves up with their own ego and finally messes up with the main voice, physically abusing her. Halsey’s leads us through the story with her raw and amazing voice, asks this other person what would they do for her, as if she’s going to get an actual satisfactory response.
In conclusion, we are starting the story of Halsey, a song-writer who shares what she thinks, and it’s not afraid of what people could assume of her, because she knows her truth, her desires and aspirations in a world full of lies and dark. This is not only about a Room from a hotel, this is Halsey saying “I’m here, this is me. Take it or leave it”.
