The singer is poised to take the #2 spot on the charts in her first week

It hasn’t always been clear as to who “Halsey” is, and that hasn’t been unintentional. She maintains a blurriness to the public eye over the past five years as she keeps her guard up. That isn’t the case anymore. Halsey is back and more confident than ever with her third full-length album.

Having released nearly half (6 of 16) of the songs before the album’s release, the singer has no issue holding her ground in the spotlight with no full-fledged features outside “interludes” that have no issue standing on their own from three other collaborators.

These interludes come from Dominic Fike, Alanis Morissette and SUGA of BTS. Their tracks each seem to represent a different form of love: Brotherly love from Dominic, loving women from Alanis and the cycle of a relationship from SUGA.

Halsey spent nearly two and a half years struggling with opening up to others during the writing and recording process of the album. She seems to have thrived in the studio after opening up to herself and coming forth in the public eye.

In a statement released alongside the album, she stated that the album was “made by Ashley for Halsey.” It’s in this sense that she combined both of her personalities for the better.

While she spent years on the making of this album, she had no shortage of competition to top the charts in her first week’s release. Other releases included Eminem’s surprise release of “Music to Be Murdered By” and Mac Miller’s posthumous album “Circles.” Holding her own, the artist is poised to sell $185,000 – $210,000 in album sales.

The most impressive feat to be taken away from “Manic” is her exploration of new sounds. Halsey has said numerous times across her social media and interviews that her new album would range from hip-hop, rock, pop and country, to everything in between.

She finds herself in a revenge-rock mood on songs like “Killing Boys” and “I Hate Everybody.” Both songs are reminiscent of Avril Lavigne and Paramore’s early 2000s angst and rebellion.

While she’s had experience with the pop/rock blend, she ventures out into an entirely new element for her country. On songs like “You Should Be Sad” and “Finally/Beautiful Stranger,” she resembles a mold of Lady Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” character that strives to be the best while in an entirely new environment.

While this may be pleasing to many hardcore fans, she is far from perfection in these new fields and has significant room to improve. With this many genres being ventured into and explored, she finds her art being spread too thin and can’t cover enough ground to find mass appeal.

While she’s shown a vast improvement since opening for Imagine Dragons’ “Smoke and Mirrors” tour in 2015, this album proves that she always has room to grow under her circumstances.

Despite spreading her music thin and missing a wide target this time around, she’s opened her field and practiced hitting those targets for a more cohesive project next time around.

Confident, bold and with a widened range, she’s sure to be more victorious than ever before on her next album.

Review: 3/5