Manic (album)


Manic is the third studio album by American singer Halsey. It was released on January 17, 2020 through Capitol Records. It was preceded by the release of three singles: "Without Me", "Graveyard", and "You Should Be Sad" and features guest appearances by Dominic Fike, Alanis Morissette, and Suga of BTS. The album was commercially successful, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200, becoming her third top-two album on the chart and her biggest album debut to date, selling 239,000 total units in its first week of released and currently holds 2,500,000 sales worldwide.
Following its release it was certified Platinum by RIAA, becoming the first album released in 2020 to achieve this. Production was handled by Halsey herself, being her first album to do so, as well as frequent and new collaborators, such as, Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, FINNEAS, Greg Kurstin, Jon Bellion, Lido, and Louis Bell, among others. Musically, Manic is primarily an electropop, hip hop, and alternative rock record with influences of several other genres including, country, K-pop, pop, R&B, among others. Halsey described the album as changing its mind as much as she does. To promote the album, Halsey embarked on her third concert tour, the Manic World Tour, following its release.

Background and sound

On October 4, 2018, Halsey released the song "Without Me", which was the first solo material since her second studio album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. Originally, the song was intended as a standalone track, but was later included on the record, becoming the actual lead single. In March 2019, Halsey announced that her third studio album would be released in 2020 and that she wanted it to be "perfect". The standalone single, "Nightmare", released on May 17, 2019, was originally intended to be the lead single from the album. A scene in the music video for “Nightmare” showed Halsey holding a newspaper reading "MANIC" and another scene where she holds a sign reading "H3 / AI / 10--2019", with the actual day not shown, which some speculated as a hint that the album would be released in October 2019. However, it was released on January 17, 2020.
During a question-and-answer session on August 7, 2019, she stated that the album is "less dystopian fantasy world" and that it reflects her current worldview. In her Rolling Stone cover story, Halsey stated that Manic is a sampling of "hip-hop, rock, country, fucking everything — because it’s so manic. It’s soooooo manic. It’s literally just, like, whatever the fuck I felt like making; there was no reason I couldn’t make it".
She revealed the album title on her social media on September 12, 2019, along with an official link to a website with the album title. The website contained a livestream of the singer painting the album cover. The album is set to have 16 tracks on the standard edition.
She revealed the tracklist on December 3, 2019, and went live on Instagram shortly after to discuss the album and answer fan questions. During the live, she stated that the album is very personal in which saying, "I feel like you guys have really given me the chance this year to express myself more and be myself in a way that I don’t know if I’ve really felt like I have been able to since my first album". She also stated that fans would get to meet a part of her that she's been really excited to show. When asked what her favorite song is, she said that the most personal one is "More", and not being able to pick just one, she listed some of her favorites which include, "I Hate Everybody", "929", "Killing Boys", and "Dominic’s Interlude".
The album was revealed to have three features including Dominic Fike, Alanis Morissette, and Suga of BTS. Halsey describes them as “People who really represent different parts of my psyche and different parts of my personality in so many different ways”.
Manic is a "busy album" and a "raw and honest look into Halsey's head and heart", on which she explores many genres, including "electro-pop, sparkly ballads, hip-hop, twang, and '90s alt rock" and "everything from Lilith Fair folk guitar to South Korean rap". Lyrically, it deals with the singer's struggles with bipolar disorder.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 80 out of 100, which indicates a generally favourable reception based on 18 reviews.
Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review and named Manic an "excellent new album", praising its versatility of genres and "Halsey's raw autobiographical portrait of as a young mess, craving her share of love and tenderness in a hostile world". In a four-star review for The Guardian, Ben Beaumont-Thomas praised Halsey's lyrical evolution, citing that "her lyrical confidence is matched by the characterful production, which straddles R&B, country, trashy pop-rock, Kacey Musgraves-ish cosmic Americana and more". In a positive review for PopMatters, Jeffrey Davies referred to the album as a "refreshingly intimate portrait of a young woman navigating fame, femininity, and mental illness" and wrote: "From an artist whose style and image or lack thereof has tended to take precedence over her music and her psyche, Manic is an honest invitation into the worlds of both Halsey and Ashley Frangipane, and teaches us that the truth is in the ambiguity."
In June and July 2020, the album was included on Billboard, American Songwriter, and Uproxx's list of the best albums of 2020 so far.

Commercial performance

Manic debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 239,000 album-equivalent units, of which 180,000 were pure album sales. It is Halsey's third top-two album and her biggest opening week so far on the chart. In Australia the album debuted at number two becoming Halsey's third consecutive album to get blocked from the top spot in the nation.
In the UK the album debuted and peaked at number six becoming Halsey's highest charting album there.
It also reached the top ten in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Singles

On October 4, 2018, Halsey released "Without Me" after teasing the song a few weeks prior during a show in London on September 23, 2018. It was followed by a Spotify vertical video released on October 12, 2018, and a music video a few weeks later on October 29, 2018. The song became commercially successful, being certified septuple in Australia and Canada, sextuple Platinum in the US, double Platinum in New Zealand, Platinum in Italy, Sweden, and the UK, Gold in Belgian, and reached the top three in several countries including, Australia, Canada, and the UK. The song also topped the US Billboard Hot 100, spending two weeks at number one, becoming her first chart-topping song as a lead artist. It went on to spend 29 weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the third longest-running top ten song by a female artist, behind only Billie Eilish’s "Bad Guy" and LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live", and became her third song to spend over a year on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the only female artist in history to achieve this. It was ranked number three on the 2019 Billboard Year End Chart and number 12 on the 2010s’ Billboard Decade End Chart. The song was promoted by several live performances including ones on The Voice, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Saturday Night Live, the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. The song was followed by two remixes, one featuring American DJ Illenium, and one featuring American rapper Juice WRLD. Originally intended to be a standalone single, the song was included in the album's final tracklisting, serving as the album's lead single.
On September 3, 2019, Halsey announced "Graveyard" as the album's second single through her social media, revealing the cover art and release date and was made available for pre-save the same day. Halsey performed the song for the first time two days prior to its release on September 11, 2019 at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty show as one of the musical guests. The song was released on September 13, 2019, along with the album preorder, and impacted US radio on September 17, 2019. The accompanying music video was released on October 8, 2019 which features actress, Sydney Sweeney. The song peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified Platinum in Australia and Canada and Gold in the US.
On January 8, 2020, Halsey announced through social media that she would be releasing the album's third official single, "You Should Be Sad", along with its accompanying music video on January 10, 2020, one week ahead of the album's release. The song impacted US pop radio on January 14, 2020. It has since peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified Gold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.

Promotional singles

On September 29, 2019, to celebrate her birthday, Halsey released the first promotional single, "Clementine", as a surprise with no prior announcement. The music video was released the same day.
On December 3, 2019, during an Instagram live, Halsey revealed that two new songs and a music video would be released the following Friday on December 6, 2019. The next day she announced through social media that "Finally // Beautiful Stranger" and "Suga's Interlude" would be the songs she was releasing, serving as two additional buzz singles before the album. A music video for "Finally // Beautiful Stranger" was released along with the songs. While neither entered the Billboard Hot 100, "Finally // Beautiful Stranger" entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100 at number 17 and "Suga's Interlude" peaked at number nine on the US Pop Digital Song Sales chart.

Other songs

On June 15, 2020, Halsey uploaded a video of the original recording of "Wipe Your Tears" which is 2:18 long. She has since revealed there is a third version which features another artist.

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal and CMG Credits. Halsey revealed the tracklist on her Instagram on December 3, 2019.
Notes
Samples
Credits adapted from CMG Credits.
Performers and musicians
Production
Design

Certifications

Release history