Clash 114 Halsey

The six cover stars that arrive with Clash 114 are timely reminders to break the panorama - each daring to challenge the accepted landscape and offer fresh perspectives on life.

Multifaceted pop queen Halsey is the first of these: a refreshingly arresting, boundary pushing, fully formed and outspoken artist who’s perfectly comfortable tackling subject matter like mental health issues, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and sexuality in her music. Her forthcoming album, ‘Manic’, is a cathartic project that embraces the manic episodes she experiences.

“At first I was intending to write something that was really angry and volatile and angsty and self-deprecating and unreliable,” she tells Clash. “I wanted to write an album about mania, and that’s what my understanding of it was at the time. And I kept sitting down to write like that, but it felt kind of performative. I did some greater self-inventory and self-forgiveness, and then the faucet opened. The writing became easier upon my discovery that I actually get on with my manic self a lot more than I thought I did.”

Also featured in this issue is JPEGMAFIA, AJ Mitchell, Lolo Zouaï, Patti Smith, Nick Mason, Akon, Pop Smoke, Maisie Peters, The Beatles, and many more.