Hopeless Fountian Kingdom Analysis- "The Prologue" and "100 Letters"

"100 Letters" is one of the most important songs to me ever, because my girlfriend and I bonded over it really early in our relationship. The reason this happened is because the song was important to both of us before that :)) we both had really toxic ex partners in the past who were really narcissistic and manipulative, and who we both gave way too much of our effort and love to when they didn't deserve it. We're both the type to give everything to help someone we love and were taken advantage of for that. And we're both writers, and we both happened to receive letters or notes or poems from our toxic exes that made us relate to that line in this song so much. So, then we heard Halsey perform this song at a festival, and we both sobbed the whole way through, it was a really special moment. So, to me this will always be a song about that moment when you realize you can't keep giving all of yourself, all of your money and time and mental energy, to someone who gives you nothing but lies. It's a very powerful song about surviving emotional abuse.

The two songs that immediately come to mind of hers that also talk about blood being sweet/honey is the song Honey and the song Nightmare. Honey is on the if I can’t have love, I want power album and Nightmare was a single she put out after Without Me and it’s about women’s rights.

Nikki S

Ok thank you so much for that lyric correction! That makes so much more sense! And Halsey concerts sound SO MUCH FUN!! Also, I'm now super intrigued about how Halsey uses the blood and honey imagery in other songs! Very interesting!

English Teacher KP

I'm excited, too ❤️❤️❤️

English Teacher KP

Thank you so much for this comment! I am so happy you're here, and I'm so pumped to explore the rest of the album with you guys!

English Teacher KP

Ok last comment for now I’m sorry I wrote so much of what H said about creating the album. But the first thing I was going to say but forgot was that The lyrics were wrong at the beginning and the first lyric is “well, king Midas put his hands on me again.” In a previous song Halsey wrote they said “I got a boyfriend now and he’s made of gold” and now “king Midas put his hands on me again”, “i don’t let him touch me anymore” 👏🏼in concert Halsey screams “i don’t let him touch me anymore” and it’s incredible lol. When I saw H in may of last year she did a slowed down version and it was my fav part of the show. Everyone with their lights up and showing off her vocals. 😍but we all say “it’s not enough for Halsey to sing ‘I don’t let him touch me anymore, I need them to scream it in my face”😂😂😂 also idk if I said but the blood and honey metaphor she uses in sooo many songs. H loves tying in lyrics that relate back in other songs. We will see one from 100 letters make a comeback later too.

Nikki S

- “And then I made the connection to Romeo and Juliet and then it was clear what the record should be about and how to write it. So I wrote it as this like cinematic, hyperbole of the relationship. So like we were fighting in the backseat of a taxi cab so I wrote we were fist fighting in the limousine. It’s the tv/movie version of a very normal breakup. It’s my story in the style of another story. My relationship if baz L wrote it. (Is it like the soundtrack to the story?) yeah! - “I did what any normal 22 year old girl going through a breakup would do, and I called Baz L and I asked him if he would get brunch with me. And we got brunch and I was like listen I’m obsessed with your movie, I’m going through this breakup, I feel like I’m living this. Talk to me.

Nikki S

- quotes From Zack Sang show interview HFK album is a concept album “I tried to be pretty concise in the concept. So the album is a Romeo and Juliet story. And the record is in chronological order. From top to bottom it tells a story in the vain of Romeo and Juliet. The intro and the first song tell you what’s going to happen before you even get started.. Shakespeare starts out and he says these people are going to die, but that doesn’t stop you from wanting to hear the story anyway.” .. “the concept is so special to me bc I was living it. I was going through a really prolonged breakup. A get back together- break up, get back together- break up kind of break up. With someone who I had been with for a very long time and with someone who had kinda grown with me, and ironically enough someone who I was making music with.” (her producer lido).. - [ ] i started watching baz luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet. And I got obsessed. I was watching it everyday. I downloaded it to my phone so I could watch it in the back of Ubers. I was out of my mind obsessed. And I couldn’t figure out why. And then one day I was starting my writing sessions and did my first session.. and we got in the studio and I wrote the first song on the album 100 letters. And in that song I tell the story of the relationship from start to finish and I give away the ending. And then I went oh my god. I love Romeo and Juliet bc I feel like im living it. Im going thru this relationship where I feel like a version of myself and a version of himself are dying for the sake of wanting to make our love work. (The boyfriend was Halsey’s producer Lido. They still work together and he even produced this album and manic with her after this album. H always said she swears she won’t work with him again and then does bc he’s great at his job)

Nikki S

No, it actually sounds so good! I love this interpretation! You are so right in that violence and war are often romanticized and glorified in society!

English Teacher KP

I LOVE the message here!!!

English Teacher KP

Yes! It's definitely a lot of fun, and I enjoyed all of the English-y things!

English Teacher KP

Very cool! I actually love that version of the film as well!

English Teacher KP

Y'all are the sweetest! Thank you!

English Teacher KP

Yes, was just gonna mention this!

Camila Dejesus

I just have to say as someone who is absolutely obsessed with lyrics and meanings, finding your channel has been an absolute delight! I'm beyond excited to go though this album with you. And BTW almost all the songs are boppy poppy vibes with beautifully clever lyrics ^.^

Camila Dejesus

Literally same!

Camila Dejesus

I am so excited for you to get to the rest of this album! I love it so much and is actually the first album I owned on vinyl! The songs are so beautiful!

Kathryn

Direct quote from Halsey on the HFK tour in Berlin before performing 100 letters live: “I was dating this guy who really wanted me to be something that I wasn’t willing to become. but I really loved him, so I thought that if I changed myself then he would like me. EHH WRONG… I had just started touring for the first time and whenever I would go away he would write these little notes and he would hide them in my suitcase. So whenever I flew to a new country and I was lonely, I would open up my suitcase and pull out some clothes and reach into the pockets of my pants and pull out this little note that said “your beautiful, I love you.” It was very sweet. It obviously didn’t work out. I broke up with him bc I realized how badly he wanted me to change, and I realized I should take some time to figure out who I wanted to be. In the beginning it was really complicated. Everyday I would wake up and say ‘I’m single now! What does single me want to eat for dinner tonight? What does single me want to listen to on the radio in the car? What kind of clothes is single me gonna put on when there’s not somebody sitting on the edge of the bed watching me get dressed in what THEY want me to wear.. I was doing really good.. I was getting dressed and then I look into the pocket of my pants and I pull out a note that said ‘you’re beautiful, I love you” from my ex. And that hurt a lot. So I took all of my clothes and I put them all in the washing machine. So if there was any notes left, any reminders, any little bullshit all of it would disintegrate at the bottom of the water. *If you have somebody in your life who wants you to be something you are not, take their notes, take their reminders, take their BULLSHIT and let all of it dissolve at the bottom of the water. You only have one you in this life! Do not waste it on somebody who doesn’t appreciate you for who you already are!! The only person you should change for is yourself!*”

Nikki S

love that interpretation

j

Yessss thank you for sharing! I was writing up what she said about it on tour in Europe which was about wanting the letters to all disintegrate into the laundry machine because it’s a lot different than the in love version when they tell it back now haha

Nikki S

100 Letters is my favorite Halsey song, it’s so good I love the imagery and allusions in it so much and the way it sounds is so fun to tie it all together, glad you enjoyed it too

halsey said that 100 letters is kind of like her version of the prologue, telling the story of the relationship from beginning to end. i was so excited when i heard this song for the first time because it's actually linked to something she posted on tumblr a while before: 'One time I was gone somewhere across the world wrapping my tongue around unfamiliar languages and screaming from stages, and the boy was home watching the stars just to have something in common. He tore pages of paper into hundreds of tiny strips and wrote a love letter on every single one. He put them in the pockets of every pair of pants in my closet. To remind me he loved the way my body curved and how fortunate he was to love a girl with legs to carry herself straight into his arms. Thighs to wrap around him. And a warm place between them that beckoned him to crawl underneath. So now, a few times a week, I reach my hand down and recover “I will love you forever.” from the pocket of my boyfriend jeans and my heart aches like a sore tooth. Little tiny strips of paper. In all of my jeans. A fortune cookie reminder of a lost love.'

j

this album is specifically inspired by the baz luhrmann version, she was obsessed with the film when she was writing the album! there's actually an interview with halsey and baz luhrmann about the album the music videos and visuals of this era are heavily inspired by the film as well

j

When I tell you it makes my entire day when you post lol I get the biggest smile watching your videos 😭😁❤️

Nikki S

loved this video! I think the 'hands so bloody tastes like honey' could mean that in their country violence is accepted and wanted, instead of washing away the blood they taste it and like how sweet it is, so they continue to commit violent acts. This sounded better in my head lol but just the idea that violence is rewarded

Daani