Ashley (song)

*This article is about **the song**. You may be looking for **Halsey, whose real name is Ashley**.*

## General information

### Composer(s)

Ashley Frangipane, Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco, Brenton Duvall & Alex Young

### Producer(s)

Brenton Duvall, Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco & Alex Young

## *Manic* Chronology

"**Ashley**" is a song performed by Halsey. It is the opening track of her third album, *Manic*. It was released on January 17, 2020 through Capitol Records.

## Background

The song was announced on December 3, 2019 through social media. Via Apple Music Halsey talked about why she chose her birth name for the title of this song:

"*Starting the album with my real name is a comfortable entry point for people, like saying, 'Hey, I'm still here, but I'm going to take you down on a different journey right now.' A lot of this album was written as I became more aware of my mortality. Sometimes I'm on top of the world and I've never felt better in my life. Other days I'm like, 'If I keep doing this, I'm going to die.’ This song is an introduction and a warning: It’s saying, ‘Here's this album that I had to cut myself open to make, and will continue to cut myself open to tour, promote, and explain, but I don't know how many more of these you're going to get.*"
—Halsey

She also talked about the song's inspiration through Spotify's storyline feature:

"*This is an introduction but it’s also a cautious goodbye. It explores themes about how my music would affect my fans should I ever “disappear”. The chorus of this song was inspired by a lot of the emo music that massively shaped my identity as I was coming of age.*"
—Halsey

The song also uses a an audio snippet from the 2004 film *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*. The quote appears twice in the film, with the audio taken from the first instance in which it is spoken. In an interview with *Rolling Stone* from June 2019 Halsey talked about her love for the film. She states how she "basically built [her] whole personality off of Clementine", the character whom the quote stems from. Later that year she released *Manic* album-mate "Clementine" underlining how important the film is to her.

## Cross-references

* The lyric "Don't wanna be somebody in America just fighting the hysteria" juxtaposes the concept of "New Americana".
* The song features audio snippets from *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*.

## Lyrics

[Verse 1: Halsey]

Standing now, in the mirror that I built myself

And I can't remember why the decision wasn't mine

But it seems I'm only clingin' to an idea now

Took my heart and sold it out to a vision that I wrote myself

And I don't wanna be somebody in America just fighting the hysteria

I only wanna die someday

[Chorus: Halsey]

Someday, someday, when I burst into flames

I'll leave you the dust, my love

Hope a bit of it'll be enough to help remember the

Days when we came to this place

I told you I'd spill my guts, I left you to clean it up

I'm bursting out of the

[Verse 2: Halsey]

Seems like now it's impossible to work this out

I'm so committed to an old ghost town

Is it really that strange if I always wanna change?

And if only the time and space between us wasn't lonely

I'd disintegrate into a thousand pieces

Think I'm makin' a mistake, but if I decide to break

Who will fill the empty space? Oh

[Chorus: Halsey]

Now, if I figure this out

Apart from my beating heart

It's a muscle, but it's still not strong enough to carry the

Weight of the choices I've made

I told you I'd ride this out

It's gettin' harder every day somehow

I'm burstin' out of myself

[Outro: Halsey & *Kate Winslet*]

(Ooh, ooh)

(Ooh, ooh)

*Too many guys think I'm a concept, or*

*I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive*

*I'm just a fucked up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind*

*Don't assign me yours*

## References

1. ↑ *Twitter* - "January 17, 2020"
2. ↑ *Apple Music* - *Manic* by Halsey
3. ↑ *Spotify* - "Ashley" by Halsey
4. ↑ *Rolling Stone* - "The First Time: Halsey"

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