H5 - Tumblr Posts
I’ve been keeping a secret for longer than I can handle and this album is my confession. Admission. Plea for kindness. Cry for help. Hand held out and extended. Promise of faith. Solemn nod in the face of “oh my god”. My sideways smile of radical acceptance. I love you so much and I thank the heavens for every single note that left my mouth in the making of.
~H5~
Woke up today to find out Halsey has set the stage for a new hunt for fans to go on. In true Halsey fashion, it's cryptic with a distinct visual style we can probably expect from this era.
So let's explore, shall we?
A Lil' Timeline:
Halsey played the 27th at Lollapalooza India. During their set before they began to play Gasoline, a visual on screen displayed a URL: FOR MY LAST TRICK (click to go to the site).
Click HERE to see a video of when it was displayed at the concert.
The Website:
The theme behind the website seems to be opening a miscellaneous stick/patch packet.
The first thing is prompting the user to "pull to open" as in a tag to swipe off. You can see the collection of patches behind the plastic wrap. Once you finally open the package, all the patches will disperse.
This is where the Internet sleuthing begins, people. 24 unique patches (technically 25, but I'll get into that later) with different meanings. Let's get into it.
1 - SNA Flight Tag
So really obscure, but googling Air California flight tag brought me to this used bookstore site. In any case, the thing to notice is the date it is attributed with, 1968.
2 - Vintage Blotter Art
According to this blog (which is the only place I could find the image), this is a vintage blotter from 1994. Blotter art is an "...art form printed on perforated sheets of absorbent blotting paper infused with liquid LSD."
3 - Blythe Dolls
I believe this doll is a Blythe doll. Image reverse search does not come up with an exact result, but from the details you can make out, the dolls eyes are quite clear. Which looks a lot like Blythe Dolls, a doll brand that came out in 1972. Their gimmick was that the eyes could move left to right.
4 - Witch Halsey
Unsure, but it would seem it's Halsey as a witch. The aesthetics are similar to IICHLIWP (H4).
If the main theme here is the 70s, there’s the movie Season of the Witch that came out in 1973, February 14th. It’s apparently commentary on traditional American suburban lifestyle through the perspective of a housewife who does not like her place in life. She meets a witch and progressively gets into the occult.
5, 18, 19, 23 - Outside of USA
5: It's hard to tell what most of the words are, but the text "Pagado" (Spanish for "paid") is on the piece of paper. . The particular location might be Palenque, a Mexican city. Relevant date: June 25th, 1977.
18: Belleville. Based on a real winter carnival programme. Belleville is a a city in Ontario, Canada. Relevant date: 1971.
19: “We smokers all want to be non-smokers too” or something along these lines. I'm trusting online translation for this (German to English). Unable to find when this was made.
23: “For Us.” French. The image search doesn’t result anything. Unable to find when this was made.
6 - Peril is My Pay
Based off of a detective book involving traveling. The font is the exact same as one of the book covers. It was published in 1960s.
7 - I have something to tell you
A sign up. I assume it has to do with being updated on any album news.
Looking through the inspect tab you can see the information is being sent to “Sony Fan Music.” It does take note of which country you are in and your address.
8 , 9 - Round visuals
I think these are visuals to give grasp to the 70s theme. It’s reminiscent of 60’s/70’s clothing/aesthetic.
10 - Michigan license plate.
1971 comes up in the plate. Michigan has come up in HFK (H2), on Bad At Love. I doubt this has anything to do about the “boy back in Michigan” but perhaps traveling back throughout her albums.
11 - Ghost
Jan 27th 2014, interesting date to put since this is the date this is all happening, just a decade after.
I've seen some people say this is meant to be the anniversary for Ghost, the song. Although it came out in 2014, its release date was in July, and it originally came out on sound cloud on February 3rd. So unsure why Jan 27th is there. EDIT: I have been made aware that Jan 27th 2014 was its international release date! I am but a fool.
The text can be in response to the lyric “Where did you go?” and the themes on the song of someone leaving. IDK, this could also be a meta thing. If a theme here is traveling and visiting locations/people, then perhaps one thing you won't find if the ghost?
Additionally, this follows the theme of revisiting her previous albums.
12 - Cannel 17
WPHL-TV is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW Television Network. The logos here are form the 60’s/70’s.
13 - Master Mystifier
Or, alternatively, Harry Houdini. The date I do not believe has any relevance here but perhaps the idea of magic.
I came about the google search “Houdini’s Last Trick” where his last trick is widely asked about. It would seem to be an inspiration for the name of the website. So potentially Halsey will lean into magic, tricks, and deception.
14 - Calling Cards
Text on card: “Compliments - May I See (C) You (U) Home? If not, please return this card.”
“May I See You Home” seemed to be a common phrase for calling cards. They were handed out to ask people out. Again, the font and images are similar to H4 aesthetic. These were used in the 18th and 19th century.
15 - B&W Hair
Oh, I actually no idea.
16 - Candy
The closest I could get to finding what this meant is when this font was used for the book Candy by Maxwell Kenton, published in 1958.
As wiki describes the plot "Candy Christian, aged eighteen, is an extremely pretty and desirable but naïve young woman, who finds herself in a variety of farcical sexual situations as a result of her desire to help others. The men in her life, regardless of age or relationship, wish only to possess her."
17 - Southern-Belle
Clearly the saying southern belle. A girl born form the south, typically with certain attributes. The saying came from the idea that “... a girl who was expected to grow up into a lady. She was supposed to be fragile and flirtatious while also sexually innocent. She was beautiful but risky to touch, like porcelain.”
https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/2259#:~:text=Course%3A,risky to touch%2C like porcelain
20 - Rabbit
I couldn’t find anything that looks the same, but I assume it has to do with Alice and Wonderland. Concerning dates, the book was published in the 1800s, while the arguably most famous iteration (the animated movie) came out in the 50s.
However, this can relate to the potential theme of magic and deception and girl/womanhood. But I’m also inclined to think the rabbit might have nothing to do with Wonderland and might be something else all together.
21 - K-Mart
Wiki comes in handy here. As described, “Satisfaction Always icon seen on Kmart branded packaging until the mid-to-late 70s, adapted from a hanging sign displayed in every early Kmart store.” So 70’s themed.
https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Kmart_(United_States)/Other?file=Kmart_-_1960s_(Satisfaction).svg.
22 - Eye, Eye, Eye, and Eye
The eyes. Girl IDK, they’re eyes. They kind of remind me of the biblically accurate angels and the eyes they have. Although, I doubt that's what they're meant to be.
24 - Cigarette
People seem to think this relates more to Badlands, and I’m inclined to agree.
Themes:
Here are overall themes that seem to be present within the collection.
- Travelling
- Magic
- 60s-70s
- Eyes
- Books
- A Feminist Lens
- Past albums
A Tangent on Web Dev:
I just kinda wanted to point out the cool coding stuff they've done. When the patches are still in the plastic bag, they're always randomized in which order they're in (you have to refresh to notice this). They also disperse in a randomized order. I thought maybe the way they disperse could be a trail of sorts, like a map. But it seems totally random. I still find it cool how they've done that, every time in a different location, as if you open the package they come out uniquely for each person.
Oh and about the 25 patch, it seems the first patch in your packet appears twice when you open it. Idk if the number 25 matters or if this was done by accident. But the 25th patch is a duplicate, and never one in particular, just which ever is the first in your shuffle.
The End
For now.
You know what I'm excited about, apart from the new music? The new Zane Lowe interview, that we will propably get 🖤 So much has changed for Halsey since 2021, it's crazy. I can't wait to hear her talk about life and new album and her baby and everything 🤭
I really hope Halsey's new album sweeps me up like BADLANDS did back in late 2015 and becomes my entire fucking personality for a solid year.
