Halsey - 2026 Biography

Artists Facts

Active: 2014-present
Name: Halsey, (born Ashley Nicolette Franipane) named for Halsey Street station of Brooklyn, NY subway stop
Genre: Electrop, Synthpop
Birth Date: September 29, 1994
Place of Birth: Edison, New Jersey

Artist Background

New Jersey native Halsey, born Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, has built a career on turning lived experience into emotionally raw, high concept pop. They are known for blending alternative edge with mainstream hooks, and their songs often read like a diary because the writing is candid, confrontational, and deeply therapeutic. At the same time, each era is shaped by bold visual storytelling and genre shifting production, which gives their work a cinematic identity that extends beyond the music alone.

Raised in a working class household, Frangipane is the daughter of a hospital security guard and a car dealer, and the sibling of two brothers, Dante and Sevian. Halsey’s musical foundation began with classical instruments, including viola, cello, and violin, before they moved toward acoustic guitar as a teenager. As a result, they developed a distinctive vocal and lyrical style that later defined their breakout rise.

Halsey graduated from Warren Hills Regional High School in 2012 and briefly studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. They later transferred to community college, and eventually stepped away from formal education entirely in order to pursue music full time. That decision became a turning point because it helped set the stage for one of the most recognizable modern pop careers of the last decade.

Recent News & Headlines (2024–2026)

To keep the biography page current, here is a quick snapshot of Halsey’s most recent career highlights, including new releases, tour announcements, and the major headlines shaping their latest era. As a result, it offers a clear overview of what is defining this moment in their career and why fan attention is building again.

2024 — The Great Impersonator era begins

Album release: Halsey releases The Great Impersonator, a concept-driven era that leans into reinvention, identity, and transformation.
Creative direction: The project is positioned as a high-concept chapter, built around cinematic storytelling, shifting personas, and emotionally direct writing — reinforcing Halsey’s reputation as a “world-building” artist rather than a traditional pop act.

2025 — “Back to Badlands” anniversary tour announcement

Major tour reveal: Halsey announces the “Back to Badlands” 2025–2026 world tour, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Badlands — the era that launched their career into the mainstream.
Fan + legacy moment: The anniversary push re-centers Badlands as a defining record, while framing it as part of a longer artistic evolution (from alt-pop beginnings to darker, more experimental later eras).

2025 — Industry & interview headlines: creative independence

Creative freedom narrative: Across interviews and commentary from the era, Halsey draws renewed attention to how pop careers often involve behind-the-scenes constraints — highlighting the tension between artistic vision, label priorities, and industry expectations.
Public conversation: These headlines add context to Halsey’s modern identity as an artist who advocates for creative autonomy and refuses to be boxed into a single genre, aesthetic, or commercial formula.

Artist Music Career

After a complex and formative youth, Halsey turned to music as a therapeutic outlet and a way to process her experiences. While performing intimate acoustic sets early on, she experimented with multiple stage names before ultimately choosing Halsey — a name inspired by both her birth name and the places that shaped her identity.

After years of writing poetry and lyrics, a chance meeting with a producer helped set her career in motion. Their collaboration led to “Ghost,” a track inspired by a former relationship that quickly gained traction online. The song’s viral momentum sparked interest from major record labels, and with the promise of creative freedom, Halsey signed with Astralwerks.

In 2014, Halsey began expanding her reach through touring while working toward her breakthrough releases. That October, she released the EP Room 93, which charted on the Billboard 200 and introduced her signature blend of alternative-pop aesthetics and diaristic storytelling. In 2015, she performed at South by Southwest (SXSW) and followed that momentum with a co-headlining tour. Later that year, she opened for Imagine Dragons during the North American leg of their Smoke + Mirrors Tour, putting her music in front of mainstream audiences at scale.

Halsey co-wrote every track on Badlands, her debut studio album released on August 28, 2015. Built as a dystopian concept project, Badlands debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 97,000 copies in its first week. The album went on to earn platinum certification, also debuting in the UK Top 10 and producing multiple singles that achieved gold certification.

Also in 2015, Halsey appeared on Justin Bieber’s track “The Feeling,” which performed strongly on charts. In May 2016, she released “Tokyo Narita (Freestyle),” produced by her former partner Lido. The song helped build further momentum ahead of one of her biggest career breakthroughs: her collaboration with The Chainsmokers on “Closer.” The single became a cultural phenomenon and marked both artists’ first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, later earning a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

In January 2017, Halsey released the digital single “Not Afraid Anymore,” featured on the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. That June, she launched her more commercially centered second studio album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. The album continued her fascination with world-building, structured around a Romeo-and-Juliet-inspired storyline and shaped by personal experiences from the era. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced major singles including “Now or Never” (peaking at No. 17 on the Hot 100) and “Bad at Love,” which reached the Top 5, becoming one of her biggest solo hits.

In early 2018, Halsey continued promoting the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom era with additional releases, including “Sorry,” further cementing her rise as one of pop’s most distinct voices — an artist equally known for intimate lyricism, bold aesthetics, and ambitious concept-driven projects.

Artist Major Works & Achievements

2016

Named Billboard Women In Music Rising Star
People’s Choice Awards Favorite Breakout Artist
NME Awards Best New Artist

2017

“Closer” with the Chainsmokers wins iHeart Radio Music Awards Song of the Year, Dance Song of the Year, Best Lyric, Best Collaboration awards

Halsey in 2025–2026: What’s Happening Now

In 2025 and 2026, Halsey is in a reflective but forward moving era because they are celebrating the legacy of their breakout years while still pushing creative boundaries. Following the release of The Great Impersonator in 2024, the artist has leaned even further into storytelling driven pop, where each era feels like its own fully realized world. As a result, the music and visuals often come across as cinematic and character led, built around emotional intensity and narrative detail rather than chasing short term trends.

Back to Badlands: Anniversary era + world tour

One of the biggest developments in Halsey’s career right now is the “Back to Badlands” 2025 and 2026 international tour, which was created to mark the tenth anniversary of Badlands, the album that introduced their signature blend of alternative pop, diaristic lyrics, and dystopian visuals. The tour spans key markets across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe, and Australia, therefore bringing fans back into the era that helped define the start of their global rise.

At the same time, the tour is not framed as a simple throwback. Instead, it positions Badlands as part of a wider artistic arc because it allows Halsey to revisit the foundation of their career while showing how much their sound, writing, and live performance have evolved over the last decade.

The current chapter: legacy + reinvention

This current phase of Halsey’s career reflects a clear balance between two forces, legacy and reinvention. On one side, there is celebration, with anniversary projects, fan favourite songs, and a renewed focus on the early aesthetic that helped turn Badlands into a cult classic debut. On the other side, there is evolution, because Halsey remains committed to experimentation and continues crafting eras built on high concept visuals, dramatic live production, and storytelling that moves beyond standard pop narratives. As a result, the moment feels both nostalgic and forward looking at the same time.