#halren

A list of people who most probably know the truth, just because I was curious how many of them there are.

Friends from the industry

- 5H girls

- Halsey

“Strangers” - collaboration with Lauren in 2017

performance with Taylor and Camila at AMAs 2019

with Camila and Shawn at VMAs 2019

- Taylor Swift

Camila’s PR in 2015

5H as a guest on 1989 tour

Camila as an opening act on Reputation tour

Taylor supporting Camren at AMAs 2018

Lauren supporting Taylor

lauren + halsey

like

créditos clicando nas imagens

So I saw the vid last night. Only saw it once then I went back to reading (then watched it once again today). My initial reaction was I was underwhelmed. While I was watching it I keep on checking how many minutes I got left coz all I saw for the first half was them walking, then them punching, then a lot of Solis close up. I legit said to myself, “this is what I’ve been waiting for for a year?”

But I’m still thankful I got a video. That’s better than nothing. And it’s not a bad video.

It’s just that, I didn’t feel the emotions I felt about the song. The essence of the song didn’t translate to the MV.

What it did remind me of (as if I needed reminding) is that this MV is just a part of Halsey’s entire Luna/Solis story, and Rosa was just basically a prologue to that, a distant memory (which makes sense since Rosa is Rosaline). That’s what the MV did. Lauren was simply made an eye candy here. She’s not even a plot device, she’s just there like a punching bag.

And yeah so Halsey explained the MV, I saw some of her tweets. She said that this MV symbolizes a toxic relationship – that they fight until they resort to playing dirty and in the end they just hurt each other and nobody is a winner. She said the MV was to showcase a love that didn’t work out blah blah. An MV that also symbolizes bisexuality etc etc. oh and best of all, she said she didn’t want to sexualize the whole F/F relationship and make that as the unnecessary focus.

Here are my thoughts about what she said.

First of all, she doesn’t need to sexualize her relationship with Rosa, I wasn’t expecting them to scissor in front of the camera. I didn’t expect them to make out or grope each other. They claim Strangers is a gay//lesbian/bi or whatever anthem? And yet the video didn’t provide a context of that Luna/Rosa relationship! Since the beginning of the MV they keep panning to Solis’ face – if I wasn’t aware of the background of the song I would immediately think that the said context was with Solis!

I’m not complaining that they have Solis (like I said, he’s the main character, and it’s their story), but damn can you at least give Lauren the camera pan the first time to provide the Luna/Rosa context?

They should have put a little Luna/Rosa interaction before the fight. Like maybe when Luna was in bed, maybe do a flashback thing where Rosa was sharing her bed with her, then maybe them fighting then hugging then fighting then fade Rosa away before Luna walks out of the bed with her ass hanging out. THAT’S CONTEXT! At least then we’ll know ooohhhhh so they were ex lovers!!!!! There WAS a story after all!!

Showing us scenes of walking with your clan and then you and Lauren staring and singing to each other in the ring doesn’t mean anything. You’re in a boxing match, of course you’re gonna stare at each other. That’s not context. There’s no clue you were lovers.

I’ll be okay with it if solis was dominant in the second half, pan the camera to his face all you want. But the first half should have built the entire Rosa/Luna scene. That way, when Solis approached Luna in the end, we will know that even after a toxic relationship, someone could still pick up the pieces and be the perfect one for you.

A context should have made us feel the what ifs of a lost love or a potential love or even the angst of a toxic love, which this entire MV didn’t provide.

All this is is just a backdrop to Solis/Luna and call it what it is. Don’t say it’s Luna and Rosa’s story and how “toxic” their relationship is, and that you don’t want to sexualize an F/F bi story in an MV and yet you kept the ESSENTIAL focus of an M/F bi story within the music video that’s supposed to be about f/f (however toxic the story was supposed to be).

Again, I’m not against solis and the m/f arc, I know it’s part of the HFK universe. But I expected more from a self-proclaimed LGBT anthem. I’m fine with showing both female and male love, but at least put them in equal light.

No kiss needed, no sex needed, no over sexualized fantasy sequence needed. All I wanted was a damn context in the beginning – not them walking to the ring for half the MV.

(And to make things clear – I’m bi, so I’m not against Luna/Solis. I just wanted a video that should have been as powerful as the song – and the song was about two females singing about a toxic relationship and control whether it’s sexual or emotional – and I didn’t get that from the MV. That’s all I wanted. I don’t even want them to end up together. The solis Luna ending was fine and expected. But yeah.)