This deep dive traces Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known globally as Halsey, from a homeless 17-year-old buying her last four-pack of Red Bull to stay awake and safe on New York City streets, to a Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum artist who still calls herself an anti-pop star. We explore how a working-class New Jersey childhood, six different schools, and the collision of her mother’s 90s grunge with her father’s 90s hip-hop shaped her genre-blending sound.

We follow her rise from Tumblr under the username 17black, through the viral SoundCloud breakout of Ghost, her label choice with Astralwerks, and albums from Badlands to The Great Impersonator. Along the way she battles endometriosis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, POTS, lupus and more, while fighting Capitol Records over the TikTok-driven release of So Good and choosing artistic autonomy over corporate compliance.

• Why she named herself after the Halsey Street subway station in Brooklyn
• How a bipolar diagnosis at 17 reshaped her understanding of herself
• The 2022 TikTok rebellion that forced Capitol Records to release her song
• Performing a full concert while miscarrying, terrified of damaging her career
• Her 2018 Women’s March poem and her biracial, bisexual identity