44 BILLBOARD | SEPTEMBER 2, 2017At the same time, there’s a lot of
momentum behind women right now
— they’re championing one another.
CHARLI I feel there’s a generally unspoken
consensus among artists right now that it’s
not cool to be competitive or fighting. It’s
really about friendship and collaboration.
And that sounds so fucking cheesy, but...HALSEY No, it doesn’t. It sounds real.
Charli, how do you stop the socially
internalized female competitiveness from
getting in your head?
CHARLI That’s not in my nature. I feel like
I have this reputation in the industry of
being this weird outsider who stumbled in
and is like, “Hey guys!” And it’s never been
in my nature to fight with girls.
HALSEY The only person I’ve ever punched
in the face was a dude.
CHARLI Same, and it was a bad punch.
HALSEY Mine was good. In high school, I
fainted in biology once, and this kid came
up to me in the hallway. (Says his name.)
CHARLI Oh my God, it’s on record: (Repeats
the name). We got you.
HALSEY He was captain of [an athletic]
team, and he was like, “Ugh, I’m Ashley
Frangipane, and I fainted in biology. I’m
such a slut.” And I was like, “Say it again,
and I’ll punch you in the face.” And he was
like, “You heard me.”
CHARLI And you did it!
HALSEY I rocked him. I almost broke his
nose. We were in the principal’s office, and
I felt so bad afterward. Could not be a hard
bitch for more than 10 seconds. I’m really
a pacifist.
Growing up, did you have mostly girl
friends or guy friends?
CHARLI Girls and guys.
HALSEY Mostly guys. I was gay, and I
didn’t know it. [I realized it] when I was 16,
working at a sleepaway camp.
CHARLI Like in The Parent Trap?
HALSEY Literally, yes. I had a fellow female
counselor, a redhead, and we would hook
up every night. We had a cabin of 9-year-
old girls, [but] there was a private room for
the counselors. My parents came to pick
me up after six weeks, and they were like,
“How are you?” And I was like, “Never
been better.”
CHARLI “I’m a new woman.”
HALSEY My mom was like, “So, what’s up?”
And I said, “My girlfriend...” And my mom,
bless her heart, didn’t miss a beat. She said,
“Where’s she from?” There were so many
different things she could have said in that
moment, and she just went with it.
CHARLI Slay, Mom.
What were you guys like in school?
CHARLI I was a nerd. I have that song
“Break the Rules,” but that was not me.
I was on time every single morning; my
parents were very much about me getting
good grades. But at the same time, when I
was 16, I was putting my music on Myspace
and getting asked to go play these raves in
East London. So on the weekends, I was
staying up until 4 a.m.
HALSEY I was an AP student, perfect score
on my SATs, really scholarly. But then I
would go to Brooklyn at night, take the train
into the city. I skipped my senior prom to
take acid at Sullivan Hall [in Manhattan].
That was also the first time I ever saw coke. Iwas like, “What are they sniffing?” I felt like
I was in Skins.
CHARLI Oh my God, that was me!
Whenever I went to play the raves, I was
like, “I’m in Skins.”
HALSEY But I think being the wallflower
benefits us as artists now — we know when
to be the life of the party and when to step
back. I feel like you’re always the life of the
party, though.
CHARLI Give me a house party any day, but
on red carpets and those kind of events, I
just freak out.
HALSEY I’m garbage at red carpets.
People are so critical. And tabloids
are always looking for “nip slips.”
HALSEY That’s the only thing they
write about.
CHARLI “Halsey puts on a leggy display.”
Halsey, is there anything you wish you
hadn’t been so open about?
HALSEY I wish I hadn’t spoken about
having a miscarriage. Afterward, people
started spamming me with photos of
baby body parts and being like, “Halsey’s
baby.” I had a miscarriage — it happens
to thousands of women every day. The
shittiest part was, people by and large
weren’t like, “That’s really terrible” —
everyone was like, “Who’s the father?”
CHARLI But that’s just the press. I’m
sure when it came to actual fans hearing
that, it struck a chord. And that’s the
important part.
HALSEY Weirdly enough, I think it also
woman-ized me. I think everyone saw me
as a kid before that.
You started your career at 18. Charli,
you started putting out music when
you were 14.
HALSEY I’m a late bloomer.
CHARLI (To Halsey) Oh, you’re so old. I
think age isn’t really a thing in [music],
which is kind of nice. [Though] there is
still this stigma in the media, the idea that
there’s an appropriate age to be a pop star.
HALSEY Katy [Perry] is a really good friend
of mine, and I hate the way people are
treating her right now. She’s evolving into a
new era. As artists, we portray characters,
and we deserve the right to outgrow
those characters and become new ones.
There’s also an expectation that we be
exceptionally politically correct. And we all
did shit in 2008 that we regret.
CHARLI Only Rihanna has no regrets.
She’s perfect. Who do you think you would
have been like if you were a star in the ’70s,
before social media?
HALSEY Stevie Nicks. I would have pushed
the sexual limit — that’s just my nature.
Like I was saying to you in our photo shoot:
“I want to be naked!”
CHARLI She was like, “Is my butt out?” And
I was like, “No.”
HALSEY And I was like, “I want it out.” But
I think I would have been less likable, lessHALSEY & CHARLI’S
‘BADASS’ FALL PICKS
T he lit tle downtime the duo get s on tour will be spent
bumping (and reading about) some favorite artists“I cannot stop listening”
to SZA’s debut album,
Control, says Halsey. “It’s
so human, so honest.
It’s about time she had
her moment.” Adds Charli:
”Ugh, it is so good!”“Everything Rostam
touches sounds so next
level,” says Charli.
“His album Half-Light is
going to be amazing. He
is a genius and a really
special person.”Halsey’s looking
forward to Visions
of a Life, the second
album from Wolf Alice:
“They’re a brilliant
alternative rock
band with a female
fronting them.”“I can’t wait to hear
Camila Cabello’s full
album,” says Charli.
“I’m super proud of the couple
songs we’ve done together.
She’s a great writer — and
she suggested pajama
day in the studio.”Charli wants to read
“badass” former Hole
drummer Patty Schemel’s
memoir, Hit So Hard. On
Halsey’s reading list?
Stephen Davis’ Stevie Nicks
(pictured) biography,
Gold Dust Woman.- & 07.
HAIR BY KOREY FITZ AT EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS. MAKEUP BY COLBY SMITH USING DIOR ADDICT AT ART DEPARTMENT. WARDROBE CONSULTANT: ALDENEJOHNSON. WOLF ALICE: JENN FIVE. SZA: NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES. ROSTAM: ALEX JOHN BECK. CABELLO: COURTESY OF EPIC RECORDS. NICKS: ILPO MUSTO/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK.