"Strangers" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Halsey featuring Lauren Jauregui from Fifth Harmony. It was released on May 26, 2017 by Astralwerks as the second promotional single from Halsey's second studio album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (2017).
Backgrround[]
The album's track listing was revealed on April 29, 2017 on Halsey's Instagram account, where it was first known that Halsey would collaborate with singer Lauren Jauregui on a song called "Strangers". In April during several radio interviews that Halsey attended to promote the album, she further commented about the song:
"I was thinking to myself, if I want this song to be believable, it needs to be real, so I'm not going to put a girl on the song to sing who's straight. I'm just not going to do it. So I reached out to Lauren and she came in and she cut the vocal and it sounds awesome. Our voices sound really cool together because we both have really raspy voices, mine's a little more delicate than hers. Hers is like really powerful and big and raspy, and mine is kind of like light and raspy. But it's really cool because i'm bisexual. I just love that Lauren and I are two women who have a mainstream pop presence doing a love song for the LGBT community, it's unheard of. It's very rare to see it from a female perspective."
Composition[]
Strangers" incorporates a 1980s-inspired production, with echoed synthesizers and strong drumline Analyzing its lyrical content Alexia Shouneya from Billboard wrote, "Strangers is about two women longing for one another," while Christina Lee of Idolator opined, "The lyrics actually tell a straightforward story about a dissolved relationship, and the loneliness that quickly follows."
Critical reception[]
AllMusic's journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that "same-sex love songs remain a rarity in the pop music of the 2010s, and [...] that's a sly reveal of how Halsey represents a generational shift". In her review for Billboard, Alexia Shouneya noted "in the first verse alone, she uses the female pronoun four times, once in every line, making it impossible to miss, skim over or interpret as anything other than what it was meant to be: a strong, unapologetic acknowledgement of lesbian and bisexual women."Anna Caga of Spin believed that "Strangers" is the "best Halsey['s] song" and described it as "slinky and addicting." Regarding Jauregui's participation, she wrote that "the best moments of 'Strangers' are Jauregui's ad-libs, the way she slurs the word 'innocent' with the kind of spontaneous passion Halsey never allows herself." In Pitchfork, Katherine St. Asaph said the song "shimmers and yearns like a recent Tegan and Sara cut... it's Halsey’s stated attempt to get a love song between two women onto pop radio. Not coincidentally, it contains the album’s most nuanced lyrics, the coupling that’s most promising yet most out of reach."
Billboard considered it the 97th best song released in 2017.
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1: Halsey]
She doesn't kiss me on the mouth anymore
'Cause it's more intimate, than she thinks we should get
She doesn't look me in the eyes anymore
Too scared of what she'll see, somebody holding me
[Pre-Chorus: Halsey]
When I wake up all alone
And I'm thinking of your skin
I remember, I remember what you told me
[Chorus 1: Halsey & Lauren Jauregui]
Said that we're not lovers, we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all
We're not lovers, we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all
[Verse 2: Lauren Jauregui]
She doesn't call me on the phone anymore
She's never listening, she says it's innocent
She doesn't let me have control anymore
I must've crossed a line, I must've lost my mind
[Pre-Chorus: Halsey]
When I wake up all alone
And I'm thinking of your skin
I remember, I remember what you told me
[Chorus 1: Halsey & Lauren Jauregui]
Said that we're not lovers, we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all
We're not lovers, we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all
[Bridge: Halsey, Lauren Jauregui & both]
I miss the mornings with you laying in my bed
I miss the memories replaying in my head
I miss the thought of a forever, you and me
But all you're missing is my body, oh
[Chorus 2: Halsey, Lauren Jauregui & both]
Said we're not lovers (we're not lovers)
'Cause we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all
We're not lovers, we're just strangers
With the same damn hunger
To be touched, to be loved, to feel anything at all (anything)
[Outro: Halsey, Both]
To feel anything at all
To feel anything at all
(You lost it)
(You lost it)
(You lost it)
References[]
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