Halsey: Badlands [ASTRALWERKS]

Why you'll love it

This Astralwerks pressing comes in a gatefold jacket with a download code. Badlands debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, went double Platinum in the US and reached the top ten in Canada.

This edition

• Gatefold jacket
• Download card included
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Halsey wrote every song on Badlands at 19, and built the whole thing as a concept album. The Badlands of the title is a desert-ringed dystopian city, a stand-in for her own state of mind at the time, and the songs move through it like scenes in a film. Norwegian producer Lido was one of the main architects of the sound.

Musically it's dark, glossy electropop with industrial undertones. "New Americana" became her first Hot 100 entry, "Colors" grew into the album's most streamed and best-selling track, and "Ghost" carried over from her Room 93 EP. "Castle" got a new version for The Huntsman: Winter's War, "Hold Me Down" and "Drive" both went Gold in the US, and "Roman Holiday" turned up on the TV series Younger.

Halsey took it around the world on her first headlining tour and launched one of the more remarkable pop careers of the decade. It's an album about feeling lost in a wasteland, which, to be fair, is also how our stockroom looks most Mondays.

Also at Kops: more Halsey on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Astralwerks (cat# 2547419811), the 2015 album.