Now Or Never

### Composer(s)

Ashley Frangipane, Benjamin Levin, Brittany Hazzard, Magnus Høiberg, Nathan Perez

## Music Video

"**Now Or Never**" is a song performed by Halsey. It serves as the lead single of her sophomore studio album, *Hopeless Fountain Kingdom*, on which it is featured as the fifth track on the standard and as the sixth track on the deluxe edition. It was released on April 4, 2017 through Astralwerks Records. The song peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.

## Background

During a special listening party event in London, Halsey played a few tracks from her upcoming album to 100 of her fans, including "Now Or Never". On April 2, 2017, Halsey confirmed via her Twitter account that the song would serve as the lead single from the album.The track was teased through a series of tweets by Halsey, leading fans to different coordinates to unveil the cover art for the album. The single was announced alongside the reveal of the cover through Halsey's social media accounts a day before its official release.

In a press release Halsey talked more about the song:

"*On its own, the song is about two impatient young lovers. But in the context of the hopeless fountain kingdom universe, the stakes are much higher for these two star-crossed lovers.*"
—Halsey

In an interview with *iHeart Radio* the singer talked about the writing process of the song:

"*We’d finish the track and then be ready to go, and [Blanco would] be like, 'Hey, I heard that thing you sang. Are you okay?' It was kind of like he was hearing a cry for help in what I was singing, which was cool because it made us bond.*"
—Halsey

During February 2018, the unedited or demo version of the song was being traded, with people thinking it was a *Room 93* outtake. It was then leaked in March by the YouTube user SailorEvasive but was taken down shortly after.

The song could be found on torrent websites after the leak, but was still hard to find. Eventually, a YouTube user by the name of Paper Town re-uploaded the song in full a day before the release.

The song was performed live for the first time since its release on May 4, 2017 during The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Lyrically, the song describes the story of two young lovers enduring hardships and struggles in a dystopian world. These two lovers are Luna of the Aureum House and Solis from the House of Angelus, who parallel the Shakespearean characters *Romeo and Juliet*.

## Cross-references

* The song references "Hold Me Down" in its chorus: "I want you to hold me down".
* The lyric "Never pick up, never call me" is similar to "She doesn't call me on the phone anymore" from "Strangers".

## Lyrics

[Verse 1]

I don't wanna fight right now

Know you always right, now

Know I need you 'round with me

But nobody waitin' 'round with me

Been through the ups

Yeah the ups and the downs with me

Got a whole lot of love

But you don't wanna spread it 'round with me, yeah

[Pre-Chorus]

Never pick up, never call me

You know we're runnin' out of time

Never pick up when you want me

Now I gotta draw a line

Baby I done done enough talking

Need to know that you're mine

Baby we done done enough talking

Gotta be right now, right now

[Chorus]

Baby gon' love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never, hey, hey, hey

I want you to hold me down, down, down, down, down, down

Down forever, hey, hey, hey

Said you know I wanna keep you around

'Round forever, hey, hey, hey

I want you to love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never

[Verse 2]

I'm turnin' off the light right now

I'm callin' it a night now

Wishin' you were 'round with me

But you're in a different town than me

We've been through it all

But you could never spit it out for me

Tryna talk to a wall

But you could never tear it down for me, yeah

[Pre-Chorus]

Never pick up, never call me

You know we're runnin' out of time

Never pick up when you want me

Now I gotta draw a line

Baby I done done enough talking

Need to know that you're mine

Baby we done done enough talking

Gotta be right now, right now

[Chorus]

Baby gon' love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never, hey, hey, hey

I want you to hold me down, down, down, down, down, down

Down forever, hey, hey, hey

Said you know I wanna keep you around

'Round forever, hey, hey, hey

I want you to love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never

[Bridge]

Yeah, draw the line up

Don't take no more time up, yeah

Make your mind up

I need you to make your mind up, yeah

Draw the line up

Don't take no more time up, yeah

Baby you gotta decide something

Let me know

[Chorus]

Baby gon' love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never, hey, hey, hey

I want you to hold me down, down, down, down, down, down

Down forever, hey, hey, hey

Said you know I wanna keep you around

'Round forever, hey, hey, hey

I want you to love me now, now, now, now, now, now

Now or never

## Music video

The music video was directed by Halsey with Sing J Lee, marking the singer's directorial debut. It was shot in Mexico City. Inspired by Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film *Romeo + Juliet*, the video is filled with gun violence. Halsey talked about the video's plot in a statement, saying:

"*[It] is one part in the center of a long narrative that tells the story of two people in love despite the forces trying to keep them apart. On its own, the song is about two impatient young lovers, but in the context of the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom universe, the stakes are much higher for these two star-crossed lovers.* "
—Halsey

### Behind The Scenes

In the Behind the Scenes video for the song, Halsey revealed that the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is a sort of purgatory for people who are too bad for heaven, but too good for hell. Luna and Solis are rumored to be the only two people born inside the Kingdom.

## Trivia

* There is a phone number in the music video that appears multiple times. When called, listeners can hear an instrumental version of the song. The number is 972-HFKNGDM. The number also provided callers with a special code valid for the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour pre-sale on the evening before pre-sale began.
* "Now Or Never" was Halsey's highest-peaking solo single on the Billboard Hot 100. It would later be replaced by "Without Me".
* "Now Or Never" was featured at Apple's WWDC17.
* "Now Or Never" has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

## References

1. ↑ Halsey's Billboard Chart History
2. ↑ Halsey Hosted A Silent, Surprise Listening Party For 100 Fans
3. ↑ *Genius* - Now Or Never by Halsey
4. ↑ http://www.idolator.com/7660416/halsey-cover-new-single-now-or-never
5. ↑ *Radio* - Now Or Never by Halsey
6. ↑ *YouTube* - "Halsey 'Hopeless Fountain Kingdom' + "Now Or Never" | Exclusive Interview"
7. ↑ *Reddit* - Confirmation of the leak, leak will not be linked on this wiki.
8. ↑ https://ew.com/music/2017/04/04/halsey-now-or-never-hopeless-fountain-kingdom/
9. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/watch-halsey-struggle-with-star-crossed-romance-in-now-or-never-video-w474839
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/BADATLOVUE/status/871850406506352642

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