Halsey has been on the music scene for a number of years, but she has recently been a breakout star over the past 12 months, earning a nomination as the Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. The 23-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down and has begun using her expanding platform for great causes like suicide prevention awareness and sexual assault advocacy.
Last Fall, Halsey was joined by Logic, Metallica, and Bleachers as part of the “I’m Listening” campaign which aired a concert during World Suicide Prevention Day.
When she was 17 years old, Halsey attempted suicide which led to a seventeen-day stay in a psychiatric hospital. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder which led to her using her platform for the cause.
Halsey also performed a five-minute poem titled “A Story Like Mine” where she detailed her personal experience of sexual assault at the Women’s March in New York City in January 2018.
“What do you mean this happened to me? You can’t put your hands on me. You don’t know what my body has been through. I’m supposed to be safe now. I’ve earned it,” she said. “Black, Asian, poor, wealthy, trans, cis, Muslim, Christian —sexual assault victims to listen and support each other.”
Halsey, who was born in Edison, New Jersey as Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, chose her stage name in reference to the Halsey Street station on the New York Subway in Brooklyn. It also happens to be an anagram of her birth name.