Halsey Wore A Scarlet 'A' T-Shirt And Its Meaning Is Pure Genius

24 September 2018, 17:27

Halsey shirt scarlet letter
Picture: Getty/Christopher Polk
Nicky Idika

By Nicky Idika

Okay, well. This is a whole mood.

If you're unaware of the unfortunate back and forth going on between Machine Gun Kelly And G-Eazy, we'll spare you the in depth details, except to say that it's gotten super messy. Unfortunately, Halsey has been alluded to in the mess and it's an all around bad situation.

Last week, Machine Gun Kelly made yet another faux pas in the saga by telling The Breakfast Club's Charlemagne that he'd "absolutely" smashed "G-Eazy's girl."

Halsey responded with a scathing clapback, calling the rapper "absolutely pathetic", though she didn't stop there.

In case you missed it, Halsey recently tweeted a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

For those who skipped The Scarlet Letter unit in high school, the novel is about a woman who is branded with the letter 'A' (for adulterer) as punishment for conceiving a child out of wedlock. In the book, the woman must wear that letter, so everyone knows what she has done.

One of the book's central themes is the shaming of women and how the social stigma associated with "sin" can be alienating.

When Halsey posted the quote, fans started asking whether it was the concept for h3, aka her next album.

Fans also guessed that it was a well crafted subtweet regarding MGK's ill-conceived quotes about her in the press.

Halsey scarlet letter
Picture: Twitter/Halsey

It was when Halsey uploaded a photo of herself wearing a literal scarlet letter that a theme began to emerge.

Halsey captioned the photo with lyrics from her song "Strange Love", a song that ALSO includes the lyrics "that's the beauty of a secret. You know you're supposed to keep it."

A few fans commented that she was giving off "Easy A vibes" but Easy A is based on The Scarlet Letter, so really she's just giving off Scarlet Letter vibes.

Fans also picked up what the singer was putting down.

Halsey shirt
Halsey shirt. Picture: via Twitter/xowenm

Without reading TOO much into these posts (who am I kidding???), we're willing to bet that there is a subtle statement being made here about how society talks about and often shames women..

That, or Halsey is taking a 10th grade English literature class and LOVING it.

Either way we stan a literary reference.

Ps. The Scarlet Letter would be an iconic album concept, no?

via Billboard/GIPHY