Born Ashley Frangipane, the Edison, New Jersey-raised pop icon, just 27 years old, has long-flaunted an unprecedented knack for darkly introspective languish that cuts neck deep into her personal life.
Interestingly, the eclectically chameleonic singer has gone on the record stating she took her genre-bending musical cues from worshiping the likes of Taylor Swift and Long Island’s own pop punk outfit, Brand New.
On that note, it becomes equally impressive when such a gentle and ultrasweet, but nevertheless screamed radioplay tune from her hits its emotional resonance marks just as strong.
Make no mistake about it: “So Good” is no broad love song. It is her mutually declared “story of us,” where the “us” is Halsey and partner, filmmaker Alev Aydin, father to her July 2021-born first child, a son named Ender.
Per Halsey’s social media platform promotions over the week leading up to the single’s Thursday, June 9 release, the pair were first introduced when Aydin, a rising screenwriter, was commissioned to write and direct a movie about her life. The result? He became a main character instead.
“So Good’s” even better music video compliment further dives into the behind-the-scenes magic between them when the cameras were and weren’t rolling. As someone who shamelessly lives her life the Shakespearean embodiment of female power in the 21st century, where all the world’s a stage built explicitly for her, Halsey has remained ever-unshy when it comes to externalizing her internal battles. She’s shared everything from mental illness, bipolar disorder and chronic miscarriages both musically and in plainspoken advocacy. The challenge a militantly forthright nature welcomes, though: how can you continue to surprise us when we were always privy to the whole deal?
The penultimate sequence of the music video takes care of this plenty. “So Good’s” visual counterpart culminates in a home video reel clearly shot and cut together by the camera-savvy Aydin – who also directed the short film at large – when the rest of the hired crew was on extended union break. This narrative crux solidifies the dent it’s already made in the music universe as a love song in every sense of the word; one that’s still very much rife with the baggage and conflict required for a beautiful conversion to the film medium.
Halsey’s infectious chorus will be remembered as a window into the messiness of true romance. As played out in the music video, unintended moment of pure kismet unfolds – where “So Good” becomes this day and age’s version of the late Ronnie Spector’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.” Aydin’s “So Good” responsibilities echo the former Ronette herself covering Billy Joel’s Spector tribute, in that both are rare instances where an artist is tabbed to tell their own story, as best they can, from an objective perspective.
Live debuting “So Good” at a secret New York City show Friday before headlining the Governor’s Ball at Citi Field with it the next night, Halsey’s radio anthem has kicked off to worldwide acclaim. It’s arrived just in the nick of time to become her latest, and certainly not her last, summer smash.
The Messenger ranked Halsey’s last album, 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power the second-best of that year behind CHVRCHES’ synth-poppy Screen Violence. However, if “So Good” was on it, it would have been the runaway Number One.
Here’s to anticipating with hopeful ears what’s next in store for the Halsey discography.
