New Americana

## Music Video

"**New Americana**" is a song performed by Halsey. The song was released independetly on the online streaming platform *SoundCloud*. It was later released on July 10, 2015 through Astralwerks Records as the second single of her debut album, *Badlands*, on which it is featured as the third track.

It became her first song to chart and reached number 60 on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart. It has been certified Platinum by RIAA and Gold by ARIA.

A live version of the song is featured on *Badlands (Live From Webster Hall)*, which was released on August 28, 2020.

## Background

The song was re-recorded and re-imagined for the studio album version.

"New Americana" describes the normalization of aspects of counterculture in the United States, including recreational marijuana use and same-sex marriage. Halsey dismissed claims that the song is just simple party lyrics and explains the deeper meaning of the song:

"*It's about America's tendencies to latch onto diversity and how pop culture has shaped us as a nation. Music is a universal language, and what music has done for our current generation is diversified it, because the music that you grew up on instills a lot of morals and a lot of beliefs in you because, you know, music is the greatest teacher. [...] When you dig a little bit deeper, it’s about how since we’ve grown up in a generation where there’s open-format music, where I was nine years old listening to my dad’s 2Pac records and my mom’s Nirvana records [...] I was exposed to different cultures, different walks of life, different ideas [...] so the older I got, the less scared me. And the less shocked me, appalled me, and the more open to diversity I was. [...] I think that music has instilled this ideology in this generation.*"
—Halsey in an interview with *Last.fm*

Before performing the song in Philadelphia in June of 2015 she again emphasized how the song is not not about smoking weed and listening to rap music.

## Official versions

* Original version - 3:03
* *Live From Webster Hall* version - 3:19

## Cross-references

* The song references the European fashion brand *Balenciaga*.
* "Viral mess, turned dreams into an empire / Self-made-success, now she rolls with Rockefellers" mentions the Rockefeller family which is an industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes.
	+ The line might also be a reference to American rapper Jay-Z who founded the Roc-A-Fella Records and has a song called "Empire State of Mind".
* James Dean is mentioned as and the song picks up the speculations about his homosexuality in the lines "But he could never love somebody's daughter / So he vowed to be his husband at the altar".
* The bridge of the song was inspired by The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," which had the lines "You know very well who you are. Don't let 'em hold you down, reach for the stars. You had a goal, but not that many. Cause you're the only one. I'll give you good and plenty."
* The Notorious B.I.G. and Nirvana are also referenced in the chorus, in the line "Raised on Biggie and Nirvana."
* Being high is also a theme in "Without Me, "Life's A Mess" and "Gasoline". The latter also mentions marijuana.

## Lyrics

[Verse 1]

Cigarettes and tiny liquor bottles

Just what you’d expect inside her new Balenciaga

Viral mess, turned dreams into an empire

Self-made success, now she rolls with Rockefellers

[Pre-Chorus]

Survival of the richest, the city’s ours until the fall

They're Monaco and Hamptons bound

But we don’t feel like outsiders at all

[Chorus]

We are the new Americana

High on legal marijuana (Sky high)

Raised on Biggie and Nirvana

We are the new Americana

[Verse 2]

Young James Dean, some say he looks just like his father

But he could never love somebody’s daughter

Football team loved more than just the game

So he vowed to be his husband at the altar

[Pre-Chorus]

Survival of the richest, the city’s ours until the fall

They're Monaco and Hamptons bound

But we don’t feel like outsiders at all

[Chorus]

We are the new Americana

High on legal marijuana (Sky high)

Raised on Biggie and Nirvana

We are the new Americana

[Bridge]

We know very well who we are

So we hold it down when summer starts

What kind of dough have you been spending?

What kind of bubblegum have you been blowing lately?

[Chorus]

We are the new Americana

High on legal marijuana (Sky high)

Raised on Biggie and Nirvana

We are the new Americana

We are the new Americana

High on legal marijuana (Sky high)

Raised on Biggie and Nirvana

We are the new Americana

## Music video

A music video for the song was released on September 26, 2015 and was directed by Jonathan Desbiens. The song opens with a prologue:

"*We were a community. They made me their leader when I never asked to be. But the lightning in their eyes huddled me into whatever they needed me to become. We were hopeful we would win, because nothing could scare us. We feared no city, and we feared no man...*"
—Halsey in the music video prologue

Moreover, the music video ends with the opening melodies of "Drive" which is the follow-up track to "New Americana" on *Badlands*.

## References

1. ↑ [http://www.thevpme.com/2014/03/31/track-of-the-day-halsey-new-americana/ *The VPME* -
Track Of The Day – Halsey – ‘New Americana’"]
2. ↑ *Billboard* - Halsey Chart History
3. ↑ *RIAA* - "New Americana" by Halsey
4. ↑ "Ghost" by Halsey - ARIA Certification
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-BPG\_6Xfd8 *YouTube* - "The Last Word: Halsey on her debut full length 'Badlands'"]
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNoFcx474p4 *YouTube* - "'New Americana' Halsey@Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia 6/27/15"]

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