- She is a chart topping musician who also was one
of TIME Magazine's Most Influential People of 2020.
She's the author of the New York Times bestselling book,
"I Would Leave Me if I Could", which is an amazing title.
And her new line of makeup is called About-Face,
also an amazing, she's good with titles
and writing, people.
It's available right now.
Let's everybody say hello to Halsey!
(upbeat music) (applause)
I am such a big fan of yours!
I think that you are so incredibly talented.
I know I'm supposed to be like host person
but right now I'm just like artist person.
You're so incredible.
Thank you so much for doing our show.
- My gosh, I'm so excited to be here
and I'm so excited to be talking to you.
You know, I went and saw your show at Staples Center.
I think it was one of the last concerts
that I went to and it was so good.
- Oh my gosh.
Thank you, I know.
I keep making that joke.
We didn't know that we had our last like farewell tour.
We didn't know we were all on our own farewell tour.
'Cause it's, yeah, no one's performing.
Well, you're an incredible artist.
Have you been, not just singer,
I mean as in painter as well.
You're kind of an all around artist.
So have you been painting while stuck at home?
- Yeah, I have been.
I'm super guilty of starting things
and not finishing them ever.
So I have like a bunch of half made paintings in the house,
but I do have one that I just finished.
I did it for a friend as a gift.
It's a picture of their daughter
and they haven't seen it yet.
So I figured why not let them see it
for the first time on the "Kelly Clarkson Show"?
- Oh my gosh.
I wanna see it!
This is amazing.
What a beautiful, thoughtful gift.
- Okay, so here it is.
(applause) - Are you serious?
- I can't hold it straight, I don't know,
but can you see it?
- I'm usually not speechless ever.
That's really great, Halsey.
- Thank you, thank you so much.
It's like a hobby.
- That's a hobby.
(laughter)
You can be a professional, that's amazing,
it's your hobby.
And just from, I mean,
a mama's point of view, there's nothing cooler.
I actually just received a really cool gift
from my friend Wise standing here that was of my kids.
There's nothing cooler than doing something
like that for a mama.
Like, we love our little ones so much.
And you're incredible.
And another thing, wait, I have to say this though,
side note, is another thing that's been going
on while you're at home is snacks, right?
You're really into like pretty random snacks.
- I can't stop eating.
I don't know what's gotten into me.
You know, I think it's like kind of being home
in the quarantine.
I usually eat really healthy when I'm on tour
and you know how this is, I was on tour for six years
and all I was eating was like grilled chicken breast
and rice and spinach.
And sometimes like greenroom gummy bears.
But I, since I've been home, I've had time
to like experiment with different snacks and I
take it pretty seriously, yeah.
- I love it.
Well, maybe you can explain some of these snacks
you've tweeted about.
This one is, "Dry Oreos are so weird to me.
Need dunkage."
Which I totally get.
Like I have to, I like a cookie soaked, I'm with you.
I'm like, let's just soak it a little bit, yeah.
- I can't eat them dry.
I don't know.
I don't understand people who eat Oreos dry.
They also have to be double stuffed,
that's a rule for me.
And sometimes I like to smear peanut butter on them,
which is an old trick I learned
from watching "The Parent Trap" when I was little,
a young child.
- Yes, oh my gosh, I love that movie.
Also, I would really love your metabolism.
I'm like, wait, what?
She's like, "double stuffed".
I'm like, oh, okay.
What's your latest snack obsession?
- I started making Rice Krispie treats,
but like without the Rice Krispies.
And I know that doesn't make any sense,
but I make them with other cereals.
So like Fruity Pebble treats or
like Cinnamon Toast Crunch treats,
and they're so easy to make and they're so good,
so good. - That's fun to do
with your kids.
- Yeah, definitely.
Oh my gosh.
You know, if I didn't live alone
with my dog and you know,
have no like family or love in my home,
I would probably do it with my kids too.
- I love you so much.
- If any of my real friends are listening to that,
it was a joke, I swear.
- They were like, we need to call her right now.
I hate that when I make jokes, people like,
"You're fine, right?"
And I'm like, "I'm just being funny."
All right, so you grew up in New Jersey.
Is it true you guys had a bunch of urban legends?
- Yeah, Jersey is a weird place.
I think it's 'cause everyone's so bored
and we're not as cool as New York.
So like you just kind of have to look
for things to make you special.
So one of the things that we came
up with is like the Jersey Devil who's like this,
I guess, creature that lives in the forest.
There's like all these really weird
like phenomenon that are really just a product
of, I think, crazy people,
but was like the profanity houses and Jenny jump
and just like a lot of urban legends that are mostly
meant to scare kids into like, not being out past curfew,
but they definitely scared me when I was growing up.
I fully bought into them.
There's a whole book about it called "Weird NJ"
that talks all about how weird New Jersey is
with stuff like that.
It's really weird.
- I'm 38 and I'm not, yeah, I won't go near that stuff.
So yeah, I don't even do haunted houses.
I'm like, but mostly because I don't wanna be sued,
'cause I full on will punch people.
Like they'll come out at me and I'll just be like, what?
And I'm just like, I get really, I don't-
- I believe that.
- Yeah, it's not my fault. - I fully believe with you.
I fully believe that you would do that.
- I'm telling you, I don't like to be scared.
Like my ex always thought it was so funny.
He'd just like jumped out and like, and I'd scream
and I like lose my voice and I'm like,
no one's laughing, no one thinks that's funny.
People do.
- I'm the jumper.
- Oh my gosh.
You like to scare people?
I hate that. - Yeah, I'm the scarer
in the relationship.
- I hate that.
I totally, I'm like,
I'm gonna pull cuddle time if it happens again.
Like I was like, but anyway,
I need to ask you about this photo that you posted.
Here we go.
What's happening here?
What?
- Okay, you should know better than anyone
that being on stage, you get like random afflictions.
You don't know where they come from.
- Well not that big!
What?
- Whenever I'm on stage, I just get this uncontrollable
urge to like throw myself to the ground.
I don't know why.
I just like, I'm always like falling
to my knees dramatically or like crawling around
on my elbows and knees and like jumping off of things.
And I always end up covered in like really serious bruises.
The funny thing about that picture actually is
that one of the bruises has like a fish scale shape.
And it's because I was bruised through my fishnet stockings.
- Oh my gosh. - You can kind of see
on my knee.
- Wait, is that a tattoo on your knee though?
Did you get a tattoo?
Are they band-aids?
- Yeah, so I got a tattoo with band-aids
because my knees are always bruised and cut up
and it says "Poor thing", which is kind of sarcastic,
'cause it's like poor thing because my knees are always
bruised, but they're bruised because I'm doing
the thing that I love, you know what I mean?
But it was kind of hilarious
and ironic because the tattoo hurt worse
than any stage bruise I ever got.
I mean, getting a tattoo on your kneecap
is exactly as bad as it sounds.
- Yeah, 'cause it's thin there, that skin is so thin.
Ooh, also right here is like pretty painful, right here.
Yeah, I was like gonna punch that guy.
I was like, "You finish!"
Well your mom actually took you to get
your first tattoo, right?
- Yeah, she did.
My mom's like my best friend.
We did everything together.
I got my first tattoo, it's on my foot.
I got her initials inside an anchor and she got mine.
I was 16.
And she was like, oh gosh,
I hope this doesn't turn into like a reoccurring problem.
10 years later I have like 70 tattoos.
So, you know, you could say it's her fault.
(laughter)
You know, I just fell in love with them.
I just loved getting them.
And they're cool 'cause they're kind of like
a physical passport stamp.
Like I get tattoos all over the world.
So I have ones from like London and Russia and Australia.
And it's like, it's cool to remember when I got them.
- Yeah, no, I love that too.
I have like around 17,
nowhere near as many as you,
but I love them because they are all memories
of like different chapters in my life as well
and they all mean something.
But what's been the most random
and inspiration for a song that you've written?
- Ooh, there was a song on my second album
called "Bad at Love".
And the song is about me failing miserably
at like a bunch of relationships.
That's what it's about.
But the inspiration for writing it was,
I've always wanted a motorcycle
and I'm way too scared to ride one and I'll never have one.
I just always picture myself getting to.
And so when I was making the album, I was like,
I want a music video where I'm on a motorcycle.
I was like, and I want the song to sound like a song
you'd be like cruising down the road
on your motorcycle listening to
and just like with your hands in the air, just like
and somehow that turned into "Bad at Love".
It doesn't make any sense at all, but-
- It does! - It was inspiration
for the sound of it.
- No, I'm like that almost whenever I write a song as well,
I have to have imagery.
I almost have a video playing
while I'm writing in my head.
How do you deal, like when you're writing,
how do you deal with writer's block?
If you're like needing to cut, like you're working
on an album for whatever reason, you're just like blocked.
How do you do that?
- Oh, usually it's by doing something
like super regrettable, like cutting bangs
or piercing my nose.
(laughing)
- Super regrettable.
- Usually that's what I do.
There's three things I do, I dye my hair or cut bangs,
I get a tattoo or I call an ex for closure.
(laughter)
Two of the things never worked out well, so you know,
I don't know.
- I loved you before.
I love you even more now.
I've heard people say this about you,
I've heard you say this about you,
that you're kind of an outsider
and you have been most of your life.
So was it incredible to be named one
of TIME Magazines Most Influential People of 2020?
- Oh my gosh.
I was so, so surprised, first of all.
Also, here's a really funny story about that.
So I told my parents that I was gonna be
on the cover of TIME Magazine and I like built it up
to be this like huge announcement.
'Cause like, I love my parents,
but they're never excited about anything I do anymore.
There was just like, oh cool.
You know what I mean?
I could be like, performing at The White House,
you know, and they'd be like, "Great."
You know, I'd be like,
"I got a Nobel Peace Prize."
And they'd be like, "That's cool, Ash."
And so I told them that I was gonna be
on the cover of TIME Magazine and my dad
sent me a thumbs up emoji
and my mom sent me a text that said,
"Wow, super cool, chick."
(laughter) (applause)
- I actually love that.
It's like a great way to keep you humble.
- To make you proud of me.
Like what do I need do?
So in case you guys are wondering why
I'm an overachiever it's like, hopefully my parents
at that situation explains it.
- I know, but I think it's kind of an amazing thing though
because I think they kind of come
across as parents that are proud of you already,
like in general of like any small thing you might do.
So it's kind of awesome to be like, okay,
that was not impressive, cool.
That's totally happened to me as well.
And it's always the things you think
that are gonna be amazing.
And you're like, oh my God, I get to...
And then the things you're like, yeah,
this happened and people are like, are you serious?
And I'm like, whatever, I don't even try anymore.
But you have a new makeup line, which I actually,
I'm not super into makeup, but I love how you do yours.
And every performance I see, like on award shows
or on "The Voice", you came in and did this really cool
thing, you are just amazing at makeup.
So it's called About-Face, right?
- Yes it is.
It's called About-Face and that's
for two reasons, well three.
First is 'cause it's about face, obviously, it's makeup.
Second reason is because an about face is to
make a complete turn in direction,
which I thought was really cool.
And it's kind of like a militant phrase.
And I always feel like I'm like going into battle
when I'm putting on my makeup.
But the main reason it's cool
is because AF are my initials.
I am Ashley Frangipane, so all the makeup says AF
and that's me.
- I'm like a person that loves that too.
I love meaning in everything or there's no reason for it.
Where can people get it?
- You can get it at about-face.com,
super, super easy.
Our Instagram is About-FaceBeauty and it's super fun.
There's a lot of really cool photos
on there where you can get some like makeup inspo
and everything's vegan and clean and cruelty-free,
so, you know it's very, very good for you
and good for the planet.
- That's awesome.
All right, well, before we go to break,
can you tell us about your Black Creators Fund?
- Yeah, of course I would love to.
The Black Creators Funding Initiative
we started right at the beginning of the quarantine.
It's something I've wanted to do for a really long time.
And you know, we kind of just got a little kick
to get it done faster this year.
I really wanted to put some stuff on my timeline
that was really positive.
I felt like a lot of my followers who were black
indigenous people of color were seeing like a lot
of negativity and a lot of violence.
And I wanted them to see something positive
on their social media,
to kind of lighten the mood
and help them celebrate their community.
So we started a project where we give grants
to black creatives and people who,
it's everything from makeup artists
to photographers, directors, clothing designers, poets.
I mean, the crop of talent is unbelievable.
And so many of them have had such an incredible start.
There's a band, "Meet Me By The Altar" that we selected
in, I think, the second round
and they just signed a record deal.
There was a fashion designer named Asada
from the first round and she just had her stuff
featured in "Vogue". - Wow!
- And it's just really cool flourishing like that.
And a lot of these people are incredible creatives
who don't get jobs as often
as their white counterparts.
And so felt important to us to create a platform
where our peers in the industry would have an opportunity
to hire from this crop of creatives before they defaulted
to the usual suspects on the list, you know?
- Yeah and just make sure everybody has the opportunity
and everybody to a shot.
That that's what it's about.
Good luck with your makeup line.
And y'all, Halsey's new makeup line is called
About-Face and y'all be sure to look for it.
And I mean,
you know what you should do?
You should put pictures of you on stage
'cause you do all these cool things
and have people try and match it or do something.
I'm just saying, as a little thing,
'cause you're amazing at it.
And if you impress someone that doesn't like makeup,
that's pretty impressive.