“Strangers,” Halsey‘s hopeless fountain kingdom duet with Lauren Jauregui, was first released more than a year ago, and it’s still the best Halsey song to date. Today, the track finally receives a video, featuring the two pop stars facing off in a bloody boxing match that pits the Romeo and Juliet-style “red” and “white” houses, represented by Luna (Halsey) and Rosa (Jauregui) respectively, against one another.
Halsey teased the “Strangers” video as the “how the story began” of the convoluted saga previously explored in the videos for singles “Now or Never” and “Bad at Love,” and–in response to a fan who accused her of portraying a straight couple in the video for an explicitly queer song—she’s made a pretty clear attempt to explain hopeless fountain kingdom‘s updated Shakespearan narrative:
The album, and every video, is one continuous gender flipped Romeo and Juliet story! Luna is Romeo and Solis is Juliet. Rosaline (Rosa) is the woman Romeo is in love with before Juliet but he cannot have her! https://t.co/RskXztR4HP
— h (@halsey) June 16, 2018
Solis, the winged angel character at the sidelines of the boxing match, previously appeared as Halsey’s star-crossed lover in the “Now or Never” video. “Strangers” was co-directed by Jessie Hill and Halsey; watch the new video below.
