Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
| Halsey
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (stylized in all lowercase) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey. It was released on June 2, 2017 through Astralwerks. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Lauren Jauregui and Cashmere Cat. Halsey co-wrote every song on the album, while production was handled by Lido and Benny Blanco, among others. Following its release, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States and the Canadian Albums Chart. The album was also certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the US. In support of the album, Halsey embarked on the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour(2017–2018). The album was described by Halsey as having more "radio friendly music" when compared to her previous releases. As a result, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is primarily a pop and R&B record and features synth-pop and electropop. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The rising pop star's sophomore album goes for experimental radio hits that are full of anhedonic drama. It's ambitious and nuanced, though calculating in ways that dull its impact.
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Consequence
An ambitious sophomore outing that could stand to break its musical mold more often.
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Rolling Stone
Halsey Showcases Wild Ambitions on ‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’.
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The Guardian
The New Jersey singer’s voice is stifled by the mega-production and collaboration fest from industry A-listers that often follows a successful debut.
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Spin
For now, we’re left with a deeply imperfect and too-often derivative album that is not without its charms, but won’t exactly help form the connection with the average listener that Halsey long ago established with her core fanbase. She will have time.
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PopMatters
Halsey has, for the most part, abandoned the specificity that was key to her lyrical successes on Badlands.
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NME
‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’ might be defiantly ambitious, but it’s surprisingly cohesive. Even cameos from Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui and Migos’ Quavo, and co-writes from Sia and Greg Kurstin can’t derail the feeling this is 100 per cent her own output.
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Variety
And while there’s no club banger, Chainsmokers collaboration or genetically engineered play for Top 40 radio, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” serves the dual purpose of bringing Halsey to a wider audience while still allowing her to follow her own star.
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Coog Radio
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a visual masterpiece and Halsey has done an incredibly impressive job at creating yet again another universe for her stories to be told. Only a few years in the game, she’s one of the most lyrically sophisticated and one of the most creative artists in the industry. Unfortunately, the songs on this album weren’t as gripping as Badlands besides a select few. Maybe I haven’t listened to the album enough, maybe some more music videos will change my mind.
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Amnplify
Halsey’ Hopeless Fountain Kingdom explores the idea of a relationship break up and emotional roller coaster ride that comes along with that. In recent interviews Halsey has openly admitted that her last relationship was very much like Romeo and Juliet. As greek mythology and Romeo and Juliet has had a significant influence on shaping Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
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The Young Folks
While you’re listening, don’t forget to listen to the innuendos Halsey tends to slip in here and there. Everything she puts out and says isn’t for pure entertainment. Every lyric has a meaning whether it seems like it or not. With this being only her sophomore album, I’m excited to see what her next project will be like.
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The Central Trend
The pushed collaborations to expand fanbases are a complete flop, the overdone ironic autotune was nothing special and the forced storyline is unoriginal and average. The choice to base an entire album on a Shakespearean theme that has been used thousands of times really hurt Halsey in the end. Halsey will forever be one of my favorite artists, but this work was painful for me to get through. Hopefully, her next album will be for art, rather than radio play or to please a fan base.
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Immortal Reviews
Halsey's Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a modern telling of Romeo & Juliet in many ways. What is most important about it is that is teaches us that there isn't an end. Tragedy may come, and tragedy may leave, but we will always continue. Halsey's dramatic approach to the story comes in a way to really makes us understand the nature of these things, and lets us leave with a more confident approach. You can strive for continuation - that is the real take away.
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Popdust
Halsey continues to impress and create not only amazing songs but stunning imagery on her sophomore album. I am ecstatic. to see what's next for her.
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The Soundboard
The stans might be pissed off, but Hopeless Fountain Kingdom just can’t competently portray the complicated emotional scenarios that Halsey clearly wants to explore. The effort is commendable, and the fact that some brighter instrumental tones have finally been brought in to a greater degree definitely makes it seem more natural, but as a songwriter, Halsey’s work lacks the sort of nuance and depth that it really should have to tackle these topics effectively. For as much of an improvement as this is, there’s still a long way to go before Halsey becomes an artist worth banking on in the long run, even if this is at least a start.
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The Alternative Nation
Overall Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a very solid album and shows artist growth, but at this point I’m not sure if I like it more than Badlands and the three pre album released songs are the true standout tracks here, only time will tell if my opinion will change on this and indeed on how often I go back to it in the coming weeks and months like I did have with Badlands.
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Saint Audio
I, for one, am always down for concept albums, and hopeless fountain kingdom is no exception. Halsey has gone above and beyond with the details of this record, building an entire fantasy world through her elaborate promotion and visuals that expand upon the album’s lyrical content.
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Cryptic Rock
Overall, Halsey has certainly taken strides forward since her debut Badlands, but definitely has some more obstacles to overcome. Not at all a knock, but more a compliment, considering all the potential Halsey has as an artist. With Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, Halsey begs to do something different, and it is that type of bold risk-taking that builds a star.
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HS Insider
Halsey’s ‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’ is saturated with colorful, cinematic perfection.
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The National
Halsey returns with Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, a complex and mature new album.
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The Knight Crier
If the album is played on repeat, it can almost seem like a cycle, “Hopeless” to “100 Letters” is her transition from an okay relationship to a toxic one. Although there are a few duds, as to be expected from any album, a strong majority of the songs are excellent and meaningful.
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NJ
Halsey's new album is a bisexual 'Romeo and Juliet' and we love it.
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Newsday
overproduced and full of clutter
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Sputnik Music
Halsey needs to wise up and gain a modicum of self-awareness or she is doomed to fall into obscurity deserving of such a bland pop artist masquerading as an "alternative" one.
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Nylon
Throughout hopeless fountain kingdom, Halsey transitions seamlessly from R&B and dark-pop to balladry and spitting rhymes. It’s a record that shows the rising star’s potential, thanks to a significant caliber of growth, but leaves us not knowing what to expect from her next—and that’s the beauty of Halsey in a nutshell. We'll know what's next when she's ready to tell us. And we'll be waiting.
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The Musical Hype
Alt-pop artist Halsey returns with a conceptual sophomore LP, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. Although it’s enjoyable, it’s all over the place.
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Ben's Beat
Halsey will always be a somewhat polarizing artist, but great pop music is great pop music. To improve so much on a sophomore album is quite impressive, and I’m sure she’ll only continue to discover her own sense of artistry as her career continues to progress.
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Medium
Just like some of its individual tracks, hopeless fountain kingdom opens big but fails to keeps up the interest and makes an impact. It’s filled with radio experiments; some succeed while others don’t. That doesn’t make it a lackluster album, but getting people’s hope up just to disappoint them is never good.
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oxygen.ie
Often on the verge of spilling the beans on her darkest and most illicit encounters, she is forthright without spoiling the suspense and leaving nothing to the imagination. This doesn’t always come across as sincere as she would like it to, however, and Hopeless Fountain Kingdom ultimately falls victim to the same problem as its predecessor – tangled, and in danger of being more melodramatic than sincerely melancholic.
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Lemonade Mahgazine
If you are looking for something different from Halsey, there is a good chance you are going to find it on hopeless fountain kingdom from the short interludes and piano ballads. It is not all progressive electronic thumping and cheesy lyrics like “Closer”. It is so much more. It is truly art, whether Halsey would agree or not. For some, chaos is art.
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Word of Daydreamer
Overall I think that Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a step up from Badlands in all aspects. Some of the songs need to grow on me, however listening to them all collectively they make create a story. Each song has a distinct sound, some that you would not expect to come from Halsey at all. Yet when they come together they create one style and work cohesively.
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Pursuit of Pop
All in all, this album is a huge disappointment to this reviewer. That said, if you’re a huge fan of Halsey, you will probably enjoy it, but if you’re not, you’ll just hear mainly soulless synth-pop.
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V Magazine
Her ambitious concepts and visual achievements are admirable, and the music is getting better as she goes, but the connection between them leaves more to be desired for the final product. Where hopeless fountain kingdom is successful is in its versatility, showing that Halsey isn’t the one-trick pony found on Badlands and establishing the potential for further growth sonically. It leaves us asking the same question: where does she go next?
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Idolator
Halsey delivers an album that feels personal and that features tracks that could easily dominate radio and streaming services in the months to come. Although she’s embraced more of a pop aesthetic after her breakthrough success with The Chainsmokers, the Badlands siren still manages to sound like herself in her latest evolution. There’s no unnecessary embrace of trop-pop for a surefire hit; instead, she has incorporated elements of trap, R&B, and pop into her alternative roots, creating something new and enjoyable in the process. hopeless fountain kingdom is a consistent and listenable body of work that will solidify Halsey’s status as one of the most promising artists in pop.
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Redbrick
Halsey sets herself apart with her subject matter and delivery – hopeless fountain kingdom isn’t your typical break-up album as she doesn’t hold anything back. Her lyrics are sinister and dark, and she tries to maintain this new image with darker tracks and attempted rapping. Not all the songs are masterpieces, but ‘Sorry’, ‘Walls Could Talk’ and ‘Strangers’ are the standouts on this album for me. Halsey attempts to spin a story through this conceptual album and while she starts strong, the story gets confused near the middle and I’m lost by the end. However, it’s a decent attempt for a sophomore album, but I was expecting more after the success ‘Badlands’ was.
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A Bit of Pop Music
Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is not perfect, but it is a pop record with a story and personality. Halsey’s persona is certainly not for everyone, but with her determination, work ethic, impeccable ear for a great pop hook and uncompromised honesty in her lyrics, she is here to stay.
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I On The Arts
It is with disappointment, then, that I have to report that hopeless fountain kingdom, Halsey's second full-length, represents a step backwards in terms of quality. In short, Halsey has for the most part abandoned the specificity that was key to her lyrical successes on Badlands. Where her Badlands lyrics had a consistent confessional quality, that same quality is intermittent at best on hopeless fountain kingdom.
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The Duquesne Duke
Halsey’s ‘hopeless fountain kingdom’ delivers classic tale in new, exciting way.
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Stack
It’s a super poppy release that anyone who loved her previous work will absolutely adore. This is her second album, and you can see how much life experience she’s gained since the previous release – hopeless fountain kingdom is an intensely personal exploration of relationships. This album joins the ‘musical universe’ she’s crafted in her works, and is a romantic and telling voyage through some of the more intimate aspects of life.
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The Daily Listening
The singer’s best work yet, HFK is also her most mature and complex, creating an entire world meant to be dissected carefully by the listener as they create their own meanings.
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She Bops
The record is a synthy good time, sprinkled with alternative pop – and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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Media Hype
A truly stunning follow-up to Badlands, that truly allows listeners into the world of Halsey. Relatable, experimental, emotional and everything in-between.
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GLAAD
It’s not just pop music – but it is pop music, and that’s what makes this album so groundbreaking. Kids across the world are going to dance and sing-scream the words that tell the story of you. And through you they will sing the story of so many of us whose stories are rarely told.
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What Jess Listens To
Whether you like Halsey’s evolved sound or not, you cannot deny that she is an incredible songwriter. It is one of the main reasons why I consider BADLANDS a staple record in my collection. While I do find that some songs on hopeless fountain kingdom are quite straight forward, there are many tracks which were written in a poetic style that requires you to dissect the lyrics and put a little bit more thought into their interpretation.
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Colorful Monsters
She just doesn’t do enough in this album to keep the interest lasting, and there’s enough evidence that she can since Badlands is a joy to listen to from start to finish. It’s such a shame because Halsey has a talent for lyrics that may not be amazing prose, but they capture the quirks of her personality that give her instant appeal. Listen to the first half – sans the prologue – when there’s a good time to be had. OK.
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Luna Paper
This is a concept album that’s not really a concept album, and this is what plagued much of Badlands. Halsey comes up with the aesthetic first before the story, resulting in too much style over substance (admittedly like a lot of Luhrmann’s oeuvre…) Hopeless Fountain Kingdom doesn’t deserve a pox upon it by any means, but like Romeo and Juliet’s romance it’s mostly shallow at best.
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On Record Magazine
Yet again she’s managed to create an entire world that feels entirely real, real enough to see themselves inside it and this is the reason the fans resonate so much with her and will too with this album. What Halsey has managed to do is continue the success of Badlands whilst still evolving into something new and fresh and Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is anything but a rework of her debut.
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The New Nine
hopeless fountain kingdom is a damn fantastic album and it’s got my vote for Album of the Year.
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Rowan Does Reviews
It’s a solid album and it still FEELS Halsey and definitely shows off her talent, but it’s different than my taste in music so I couldn’t fully enjoy it as I normally would have.
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Uproxx
Halsey’s ‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’ Is The Triumph Of A Millennial Pop Star.
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Olly Boston Media
Overall this is another fantasic album from Halsey and I genuinely feel like this is my favourite album of hers.
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AllMusic
Same-sex love songs remain a rarity in the pop music of the 2010s, and while that's a sly reveal of how Halsey represents a generational shift, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom as a whole feels quintessentially 2017 in how it jumbles styles and sentiment, streamlining a teeming, contradictory culture into something smooth, glassy and easy to digest.
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Alter The Press
While the idea of a Romeo and Juliet pairing isn’t new by any means, you do have to give it to Halsey that she can create a solid world with tracks that can easily stand alone on their own as well. If there’s anything that should be taken from the singer’s release, it’s that she’s a new kind of popstar who isn’t just creating music, but all encompassing artworks.
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