Halsey Says Acting Helped Disconnect From Stage Name, Talks Britney Spears

Halsey says her latest pivot to performing helped her disconnect from the stage id she inhabits as a singer.

Although her actual title is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, the singer releases music and performs underneath the stage title Halsey. In an interview with Paper, she spoke about her expertise stepping away from the id for her two latest onscreen roles, 2023’s Americana and 2024’s Maxxxine.

“I all the time evaluate Halsey to Gray’s Anatomy, the place all people who did Gray’s Anatomy, I’m certain they cherished it, however after 25 seasons, they’re like, I can’t play Meredith anymore,” the singer mentioned. “That’s type of how I felt about Halsey, which introduced up a fair better existential query: ‘Why do I really feel like I’m taking part in Halsey?’ It’s meant to be only a stage title, not essentially a persona, and I spotted at that time it has type of grown right into a persona, which I by no means actually meant for it to.”

In each movies, the singer is credited as Halsey, moderately than Frangipane, however she performs characters separate from herself.

“Appearing gave me an opportunity to step out of [my singer persona], but in addition it gave me an opportunity to be part of another person’s imaginative and prescient,” Halsey continued. “A lot of what I make, the impetus is on me on a regular basis to be in charge of every thing. It was good exhibiting as much as another person’s set, and my solely job is to serve you in the easiest way that I can and you’ve got the tougher job.”

She additionally mentioned it was enjoyable to study a brand new creative course of. “It was good to be new at one thing, be part of a group and collaborate,” she added. “Being a solo artist is a extremely lonely enterprise. I don’t assume folks notice how lonely it’s. I would definitely take it over being in a band, as a result of I feel I’d be a tyrant.”

Elsewhere within the profile, Halsey additionally spoke about interpolating Britney Spears’ “Fortunate” for her personal new tune of the identical title.

“Clearly I’ll by no means know what it’s like to achieve the magnitude and the monolith of fame and publicity and lack of autonomy that [Britney] skilled in her profession. I’ll by no means know that, however in a approach, there are some parallels,” Halsey mentioned of her connection to the long-lasting singer. “She was the primary pop star I fell in love with and I knew every thing about her, and I used to be in love along with her and I worshiped her. I used to be jealous of her. I believed she had the proper life, as did most of us on the time, and I’ve all the time, by means of each stage of her profession, actually rooted for her.”