Halsey Says Acting Helped Her Disconnect From Her Stage Name: “It’s Nice to Be New at Something”

Halsey says her recent pivot to acting helped her disconnect from the stage identity she inhabits as a singer.

Though her real name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, the singer releases music and performs under the stage name Halsey. In an interview with Paper, she spoke about her experience stepping away from the identity for her two recent onscreen roles, 2023’s Americana and 2024’s Maxxxine.

“I always compare Halsey to Grey’s Anatomy, where everybody who did Grey’s Anatomy, I’m sure they loved it, but after 25 seasons, they’re like, I can’t play Meredith anymore,” the singer said. “That’s kind of how I felt about Halsey, which brought up an even greater existential question: ‘Why do I feel like I’m playing Halsey?’ It’s meant to be just a stage name, not necessarily a persona, and I realized at that point it has kind of grown into a persona, which I never really intended for it to.”

In both films, the singer is credited as Halsey, rather than Frangipane, but she plays characters separate from herself.

“Acting gave me a chance to step out of [my singer persona], but also it gave me a chance to be a part of someone else’s vision,” Halsey continued. “So much of what I make, the impetus is on me all the time to be in control of everything. It was nice showing up to someone else’s set, and my only job is to serve you in the best way that I can and you have the harder job.”

She also said it was fun to learn about a new artistic process. “It was nice to be new at something, be a part of a community and collaborate,” she added. “Being a solo artist is a really lonely venture. I don’t think people realize how lonely it is. I would certainly take it over being in a band, because I think I would be a tyrant.”

Elsewhere in the profile, Halsey also spoke about interpolating Britney Spears’ “Lucky” for her own new song of the same name.

“Obviously I will never know what it’s like to reach the magnitude and the monolith of fame and exposure and lack of autonomy that [Britney] experienced in her career. I will never know that, but in a way, there are some parallels,” Halsey said of her connection to the iconic singer. “She was the first pop star I fell in love with and I knew everything about her, and I was in love with her and I worshiped her. I was jealous of her. I thought she had the perfect life, as did most of us at the time, and I’ve always, through every stage of her career, really rooted for her.”