hopeless fountain kingdom is Halsey’s sophomore album released on June 2, 2017. The release date was revealed on March 22 on Twitter through a series of cards which featured Roman numerals, which she later clarified in another tweet. The album debuted atop Billboard 200 Chart after first week of track marking her first #1 album in the USA.
The final show of the Badlands tour at Madison Square Garden was followed by a short video which ended in the words, “You can find me in the kingdom,” which many suspected was a hint about future music. These suspicions were confirmed on March 7 when Halsey tweeted:
This announcement followed her changing her Twitter bio in February to read, “I Will Be Releasing My Sophomore Album in June 2017.” On February 27, she invited fans to hear four songs from the album.
?is the second studio album by American rapper XXXTentacion and the last to be released during his lifetime. It was released on March 16, 2018, by Bad Vibes Forever, Caroline Distribution, and Capitol Music Group. It succeeds the release of his debut studio album 17 and the extended play A Ghetto Christmas Carol (both 2017). The album was primarily produced by frequent collaborator John.
In March, Twitter accounts appeared for Luna from the house of Aureum (“golden” in Latin) and Solis from the house of Angelus (“angel” in Latin), who are the protagonists of the album. Halsey mentioned these accounts in an April interview with iHeart Radio. During the interview she also spoke about the meaning of the album:
For me, hopeless fountain kingdom is a story about two people who want to be in love so badly they’re willing to change themselves for their love and in doing so they let the real versions of themselves die, so it’s a Romeo and Juliet story.
MTV News helped breakdown the influence that the 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet had on this album. This is especially ostensible in the music video for “Now Or Never,” where countless references to the movie appear. The song is also the album’s lead single, released April 4, 2017, following “Not Afraid Anymore,” her contribution to the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack.
On May 3, she revealed the dates and locations for Installment One of the hopeless fountain kingdom World Tour. Some of the dates and locations were hinted at in The Kingdom Times, a newsletter sent to fans which revealed information about the album. Later that day she announced the release of the first promotional single from the album, “Eyes Closed.”
“Strangers”, a collaboration with Lauren Jauregui, is the first song of Halsey’s to include feminine pronouns. It was released as the second promotional single on May 26, a week before the release of the album.
On June 2, Halsey answered questions about the album on Twitter and talked about why she based the album around Romeo + Juliet.
On June 20th, Halsey posted an Ask Me Anything Chat to YouTube in which she was asked “How did you come up with the name ‘hopeless fountain kingdom’”
… It was the invention of a friend… named Zach. He always talked about the hopeless fountain kingdom as this place, this etherial place, this afterlife. And as I was growing and evolving past Badlands it really seemed like the most appropriate fit for me. I love the way that it sounds, I love the vulnerability in ‘hopeless’, I love the sense of eternity and the flowing nature of the word ‘fountain’ and of course as always, it is my ‘kingdom’
On May 24th, 2018, the album was officially certified platinum.
Solange has released her new album. The follow-up to 2016’s A Seat at the Table is called When I Get Home, and it features contributions from Panda Bear, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Gucci Mane, Playboi Carti, Dev Hynes, Cassie, Pharrell, Sampha, and many more. Listen to it on Spotify below and on Apple Music. Solange wrote and executive produced the record. Find the full credits.
Solange has announced several Saint Heron events around Houston on Sunday, described as an “album experience.” RSVP to the events at her website.
Before its release, Solange teased the new record by taking over the website BlackPlanet. In a 2018 T Magazine profile, Solange stated that the album—which was tentatively due for a fall 2018 release—was recorded in locations including New Orleans, Jamaica, and California’s Topanga Canyon. “There is a lot of jazz at the core,” she said of the album. “But with electronic and hip-hop drum and bass because I want it to bang and make your trunk rattle.”
Last year, Solange was named the Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year. In April 2018, she unveiled a performance art piece called Metatronia, which followed her outdoor performance at Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. The latter project prompted a change of perspective for the new LP, she told The Times: “I realize how much wider, figuratively and literally, my work could be if I took myself away as subject.”
A Seat at the Table was Pitchfork’s No. 1 album of 2016.” Read “Everything Solange Has Done Since A Seat at the Table” on the Pitch.
This article was originally published on February 28 at 6:32 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on March 1 at 12:06 a.m. Eastern.