HalseyвЂ™s best strength is her ability to convey her anger and torment, but often her vocals are masked in fuzzy distortion or cloaked in reverb. Elsewhere on the album she proves capable of finding unique spaces within more percussive records, but her melody is predictable here atop the trackвЂ™s theatrical piano chords. Though she has an interesting and emotive voice, Halsey doesnвЂ™t have the powerhouse voice to carry some of the albumвЂ™s more intricate riffing or the emotional weight of a ballad like вЂњSorryвЂќ. вЂњLieвЂќ is a misstep, though thatвЂ™s more due to man-of-the-moment QuavoвЂ™s verse featuring a curious lack of percussion, and the songвЂ™s shapeless, one-word hook. On both вЂњDonвЂ™t PlayвЂќ and вЂњWalls Could TalkвЂќ you would be forgiven for expecting Timbaland ad-libs to pop up out of nowhere, but Halsey does a solid enough job of updating a pleasingly campy mid-2000s sound. Two of the albumвЂ™s more glib moments of pop fun come when Halsey channels something like FutureSex/LoveSounds era Justin Timberlake. ItвЂ™s certainly a departure from her take-on-the-world persona on Badlands, but it doesnвЂ™t betray her confrontational, in-your-face nature. The albumвЂ™s lead single вЂњNow or NeverвЂќ doesnвЂ™t reinvent the wheel (if anything it cribs heavily from RihannaвЂ™s raw, recent work), but it is an exceedingly effective mid-tempo summer jam. вЂњI got a new place in Cali, but I'm gone every night / So I fill it with strangers so they keep on the lightsвЂќ, she confesses on the opening verse. ItвЂ™s elegant but also solemn, Halsey herself described it as having a вЂњGatsby vibeвЂќ, which is spot on. вЂњAloneвЂќ has the texture of a vintage Roc-A-Fella era rap track, with rich, expansive horn and strings condensed into a sample like astronaut ice cream. While she was under-qualified to lead the youth revolt on Badlands and overqualified to be Drew TaggartвЂ™s foil on the ChainsmokerвЂ™s вЂњCloserвЂќ, sheвЂ™s managed to find a sweet spot here that indicates the potential for more longevity than any of her previous work. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is more focused on Halsey herself, fixating on both her dysfunctional trysts and also her relationship with fame now that sheвЂ™s been in the spotlight for a while.

This led to a few quality tracks like the murky, slow-burning вЂњHold Me DownвЂќ, but also the brutally awkward banner waving of вЂњNew AmericanaвЂќ, which is cringe-worthy whether or not you factor in the layer of irony which Halsey claims many missed. On her debut album, Badlands, Halsey attempted to speak for an entire generation of vexed millennials.

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