Halsey has never been shy about sharing her personal life. Her new video for "929," from her latest album Manic, lets us take a deeper look into her childhood and career. Although the song and a lyric video dropped almost a year ago, Halsey released this special video for her fans in honor of her 26th birthday (September 29). "Honoring the tradition of presents for you on my birthday. here’s a special music video for '929' you guys have made me who I am today," the singer wrote on social media.
Halsey also released the expanded version of her album Manic. The eleven additional songs include two exclusive tracks, "wipe your tears" and "I'm Not Mad," her "Be Kind" collab with Marshmello, two "Without Me" remixes featuring Juice WRLD and by Illenium, and six stripped and acoustic tracks.
Spearheaded by her tour videographer and director Paul Donaghy, the video starts with old home videos projected on a cracked birthday cake, then slowly pans out to show us Halsey’s childhood bedroom. “I really was born at 9:29 a.m. on 9/29. You think I’m lying but I’m being dead serious,” the artist says at the beginning of the video while laughing. Halsey brings us into her life through childhood photos and videos, starting with her communion, and fading to her playing with a doll carriage. In these videos, we see a few clips of her dancing around in crazy costumes, highlighting her easygoing manner and natural love for performing.
The video starts to then fade into Halsey’s teenage years and the beginning of her career, before quickly fading into a wall of what looks like faded blood splatters. Halsey connects certain lyrics in her song with photos from her childhood to help tell her story. "Who do you call when it's late at night / When the headlines just don't paint the picture right," she sings, contemplating the costs of fame. The storyline shows us her true passion for art and how far she's come.
Halsey ends the video with more recent candid clips. "929" embodies the intimate encounters that shaped Halsey as a person, and the intimacy in the video matched perfectly. Through "929" and its visuals, she connects to the listener in a deeper way than ever before.