Halsey, 25, didn’t disappoint with her return to Saturday Night Live. The Edison, New Jersey native kicked things off with her track “You Should Be Sad” and it was absolutely incredible. The country-themed break-up jam is one of Halsey’s best songs, and the execution on the SNL stage was one of the most unique performances we’ve seen yet. “No, you’re not half the man you think that you are/And you can’t fill the hole inside of you with money, drugs, and cars/I’m so glad I never ever had a baby with you/’Cause you can’t love nothing unless there’s something in it for you,” she sang while riding a mechanical bull. The changing color lights added to the moody vibe, and the highlight of the performance was when her dancers lifted and spun her around. Halsey stunned in a black bodysuit for the performance, and she and her dancers kept the country theme going with black cowboy hats and boots. So chic!
For her second performance, it was just Halsey and her guitar for “Finally // beautiful stranger.” Her vocals were on full display in the emotional, stripped down performance that put her range on full display. Though she was on television in front of millions of people, the 25-year-old transported viewers to an intimate nightclub for the raw performance. A smoke machine added to the ominous vibe, as a light behind her changed from green to purple. “Oh, I’m dancing in my living room,” she sang in the track about falling in love with someone new. She switched up her outfit too, rocking an 1800s western outfit including a white blouse with bell sleeves and a bell bottom black pant.
Both tracks are off of her highly anticipated third studio album Manic, which dropped on Jan. 17! The electro-pop project has already been a smash hit with singles “Graveyard”, “Clementine”, “Finally // Beautiful Stranger”, “Suga’s Interlude”, and “You Should Be Sad” — and her Billboard number one “Without Me”! The track was heavily inspired by her break-up from rapper G-Eazy, 30, who she dated from 2017 – 2018. “[It was about] getting cheated on in front of the entire world, like, a billion times,” the singer — born Ashley Nicolette Frangipane — spilled to our sister magazine Rolling Stone in June 2019.
The singer later addressed the drama in an SNL performance on Feb. 9, 2019! During “Without Me,” a screen with graffiti messages flashed behind the singer-songwriter, and read “I’m sorry Ashley I cheated.” While she didn’t name anyone in question, she followed up with a tweet that seemingly pointed the finger at her ex. “as an artist, I have a privilege to remain honest and write about what’s true to me. as a woman, I have a responsibility to not allow myself to be silenced by someone who has done me wrong,” the tweet read, followed with “my truth will always come through in my art. death over silence, yo.”
The 16-track album follows 2017’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom and is being described by critics as her most eclectic to date. “[Manic] is hip-hop, rock, country, f*****g everything — because it’s so manic,” she also said to Rolling Stone. “It’s soooooo manic. It’s literally just, like, whatever the f*** I felt like making; there was no reason I couldn’t make it.”
In celebration of the album, Halsey is also hitting the road for a massive world tour! The 48-date show kicks off in Madrid, Spain, and includes stops in Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York before wrapping in Irvine, California on Aug. 1!