Remember when blue hair was her staple look?
Halsey has laid down roots and started a family in sunny Los Angeles, but is still a total east-coaster at heart. The pop singer grew up in the small town of Clark, New Jersey, and started out playing and attending local shows throughout the tri-state area. Their evolution from small-town hero to A-list pop star is truly a special one. “I didn't like being Ashley Frangipane,” Halsey previously told Rolling Stone in July 2016. “It was a person I thought was weak and silly and sad.” Instead, they took on the Halsey Moniker — an ode to the street they lived on in Brooklyn, which also happened to be an anagram of Ashley.
Still, fans sometimes affectionately call them Ashley, because Halsey’s got a way of making everyone feel like a friend. She remembers fans by name, reps her home city to this day, and is humble through and through. Halsey is mixed-race (their mom is of Italian, Hungarian, and Irish descent while their dad is Black), and has carved out a unique place in the music industry. Ashley is a pop star of epic proportions, but they actually have rock & roll roots. Fans loved Halsey’s earliest, edgier hits, which made it obvious they grew up on a stedy diet of Nirvana, The Cure, and Biggie Smalls.
Whether you consider her a rock star, a pop star, or something in between, Halsey’s journey is seriously impressive.
Talk about a throwback! Halsey gave a little insight into their childhood when they took to Instagram in June 2019 with a never-before-seen pic. “So much to unpack here,” Halsey wrote in the caption. “The evanescence shirt. The hot topic pants. The look of determination. The Costco glasses. The secondhand violin that got me into music. This post is a whirlwind.” It’s called fashion sweetie, look it up.
In March 2019, Halsey reminisced on their whirlwind success by sharing a photo from her very first tour. The slideshow post also featured a photo taken about four years later, which showed Halsey playing for a massive arena. The snapshots were a sweet reminder of how far Halsey has come in such a short time.
Halsey looked nearly unrecognizable in one of their first-ever press appearances. The singer stopped by the Sirius XM offices in May 2014 and had completely brown hair and no visible tattoos.
By 2015, Halsey was hitting stages left and right. Blue hair was her signature in her early days, and they rocked it flawlessly at this concert in Atlanta, Georgia.
Halsey is a big fan of wigs, but when she’s not experimenting with new hairstyles, they’re rocking a simple pixie cut underneath. Halsey began sporting natural hair more than ever in 2015.
Halsey’s career took off full force after the release of 2015’s Badlands. By 2016, the singer was hitting red carpets left and right.
Halsey’s tumultuous relationship with G-Eazy may be one they'd like to forget, but it did bless fans with an epic love song and one of her biggest hits. Halsey and their ex-flame released the song "Him & I" together in December 2017.
Halsey quickly became known for their head-turning red carpet looks. The singer stunned in royal blue at the 2017 Grammy Awards — one of the many award shows they would attend that year.
Halsey turned up the glamour a notch in 2018. The singer favored more high-fashion looks such as this one, worn at the 19th annual Latin GRAMMY Awards on Nov. 15.
Even before announcing the launch of their own beauty line, About Face, Halsey was experimenting with bold beauty looks on the red carpet.
Halsey shared a major life milestone with fans when they announced their pregnancy in January 2021. While some stars opt to keep their pregnancies private, Halsey had no problem sharing sweet baby bump photos with fans on Instagram.
Once Halsey's baby arrived, the adorable photos continued. She shared a touching photo breastfeeding their baby, Ender, on Aug. 23.
Goth Halsey emerges! In June 2021, Halsey shared they were dropping their fourth studio album, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power. Later, when Halsey hit the red carpet at the premiere of their new film of the same name in August, they looked like gothic royalty ready to slay the night.
Ahead of the album's release, Halsey joked about being "old as dirt" after four albums. But if their recent photos are any indicator, she’s just getting started on building an empire.
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