Halsey Revealed There’s Multiple Meanings to Her Videos for ‘Ghost’
Halsey took the unconventional move of filming two separate music videos for her song “Ghost.” Halsey revealed there’s more meaning to the videos than it appears on the surface. In addition, one video spurred backlash while the other did not — even though both videos have the same plot.
The reason there are two videos for ‘Ghost’
Halsey included her song “Ghost” on two separate projects. One was her EP Room 93 and the other was her debut album Badlands. In a similar vein, there are two different videos for the song.
The two videos have pretty similar storylines. Each shows Halsey getting intimate with a love interest in a room. Whereas one video shows Halsey with a man in the Pink Motel in Los Angeles, the other shows her with a woman in Tokyo. On Twitter, Halsey opened up about how each video takes place in a different universe.
“The cool thing is that,” she tweeted, “because ghost is on the EP and the Album it exists in two different concepts. It’s the same story re-approached in different worlds. That’s why there’s two videos! Room 93 world and Badlands world!” Halsey revealed the video set in the world of Badlands was her favorite of the two. In an interview with The Fader, she further discussed the meaning of the Badlands video.
Halsey revealed possible meanings behind her favorite ‘Ghost’ video
“Is [the other woman in the video] a friend, a girlfriend, [or] a part of herself?” Halsey said.”I wanted to see some representation of a lesbian relationship that wasn’t over sexualized. Just two people in love—or at least they used to be.” She said it’s ultimately up to viewers how they interpret the clip.
The idea the two characters in the video represent two parts of the same woman is interesting given the two characters dress the same and have the same haircut. In addition, the video opens up with a disembodied voice speaking Japanese. The voice something to the effect of “If you look back to the past with her, she had started disappearing before you knew it. Maybe she never existed.’ This suggests the other woman in the video isn’t real. Perhaps the two characters in the video truly represent different parts of the same person.
The backlash to one version of ‘Ghost’
Halsey said the two videos have essentially the same story. Why did she choose to appear alongside another woman in the Badlands version?
“I was pretty much like, ‘OK, enough videos of me and some male lead making out,'” Halsey told The Fader. “I wanted to approach this one from a different perspective.” She noted how the Badlands version garnered backlash while the Room 93 one did not. In addition, she said the press discussed the video where she gets intimate with another woman in much more sexual terms than the one where she gets intimate with a man. Regardless of the backlash, Halsey’s comments show there’s more to these videos than meets the eye.
