hopeless fountain kingdom is Halsey’s sophomore album released on June 2, 2017. The release date was revealed on March 22 on Twitter through a series of cards which featured Roman numerals, which she later clarified in another tweet. The album debuted atop Billboard 200 Chart after first week of track marking her first #1 album in the USA. The final show of the Badlands tour at Madison Square Garden was followed by a short video which ended in the words, “You can find me in the kingdom,” which many suspected was a hint about future music. These suspicions were confirmed on March 7 when Halsey tweeted: This announcement followed her changing her Twitter bio in February to read, “I Will Be Releasing My Sophomore Album in June 2017.” On February 27, she invited fans to hear four songs from the album. In March, Twitter accounts appeared for Luna from the house of Aureum (“golden” in Latin) and Solis from the house of Angelus (“angel” in Latin), who are the protagonists of the album. Halsey mentioned these accounts in an April interview with iHeart Radio. During the interview she also spoke about the meaning of the album: For me, hopeless fountain kingdom is a story about two people who want to be in love so badly they’re willing to change themselves for their love and in doing so they let the real versions of themselves die, so it’s a Romeo and Juliet story. MTV News helped breakdown the influence that the 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet had on this album. This is especially ostensible in the music video for “Now Or Never,” where countless references to the movie appear. The song is also the album’s lead single, released April 4, 2017, following “Not Afraid Anymore,” her contribution to the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. On May 3, she revealed the dates and locations for Installment One of the hopeless fountain kingdom World Tour. Some of the dates and locations were hinted at in The Kingdom Times, a newsletter sent to fans which revealed information about the album. Later that day she announced the release of the first promotional single from the album, “Eyes Closed.” “Strangers”, a collaboration with Lauren Jauregui, is the first song of Halsey’s to include feminine pronouns. It was released as the second promotional single on May 26, a week before the release of the album. On June 2, Halsey answered questions about the album on Twitter and talked about why she based the album around Romeo + Juliet. On June 20th, Halsey posted an Ask Me Anything Chat to YouTube in which she was asked “How did you come up with the name ‘hopeless fountain kingdom’” … It was the invention of a friend… named Zach. He always talked about the hopeless fountain kingdom as this place, this etherial place, this afterlife. And as I was growing and evolving past Badlands it really seemed like the most appropriate fit for me. I love the way that it sounds, I love the vulnerability in ‘hopeless’, I love the sense of eternity and the flowing nature of the word ‘fountain’ and of course as always, it is my ‘kingdom’ On May 24th, 2018, the album was officially certified platinum.