"Strangers" is a song by American singer Halsey featuring

Lauren Jauregui Lauren Michelle Jauregui Morgado (; born June 27, 1996) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Jauregui began exp ...

. It was released on May 26, 2017 through

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

as the second

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

from her second studio album, ''

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom ''Hopeless Fountain Kingdom'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey. It was released on June 2, 2017, through Astralwerks. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Lauren Jauregui an ...

'' (2017). The song received critical acclaim. Halsey later released a music video on June 20, 2018.

Background

The album's track listing was revealed on April 29, 2017 on Halsey's

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account, where it was first known that Halsey would collaborate with

Fifth Harmony Fifth Harmony, often shortened to 5H, was an American girl group based in Miami, composed of Ally Brooke, Normani, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, and previously Camila Cabello until her departure from the group in December 2016. The group si ...

's 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 Straight may refer to: Slang * Straight, slang for heterosexual ** Straight-acting, an LGBT person who does not exhibit the appearance or mannerisms of the gay stereotype * Straight, a member of the straight edge subculture Sport and games * Str ...
. 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 Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...
. I just love that Lauren and I are two women who have a mainstream pop presence doing a love song for the
LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and soci ...
, it's unheard of. It's very rare to see it from a female perspective.

Composition

"Strangers" incorporates a

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-inspired production, with

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the li ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

s and strong

drumline Marching percussion instruments are instruments specially designed to be played while moving. This is achieved by attaching the drum(s) to a special harness (also called a carrier or rack) worn by the drummer, although not all marching bands us ...

Analyzing its lyrical content Alexia Shouneya from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' wrote, "Strangers is about two women longing for one another," while Christina Lee of ''

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

'' opined, "The lyrics actually tell a straightforward story about a dissolved relationship, and the loneliness that quickly follows."

Critical reception

"Strangers" received critical acclaim.

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's journalist

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

noted that "same-sex love songs remain a rarity in the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describ ...

of the

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, 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 ssong" and described it as "slinky and addicting", adding that its best moments are "Jauregui's

ad-libs In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The ...

, the way she slurs the word 'innocent' with the kind of spontaneous passion Halsey never allows herself." In ''

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'', Katherine St. Asaph said the song "shimmers and yearns like a recent

Tegan and Sara Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumental ...

cut" and "contains the album's most nuanced lyrics, the coupling that's most promising yet most out of reach." ''Billboard'' ranked "Strangers" at number 97 on its critics list of the 100 Best Songs of 2017. Chris Payne wrote that it is ''Billboard'' staff's favorite song from the album, praising Halsey and Jauregui's chemistry and Jauregui's tone and delivery of "lovesick desperation". ''Billboard'' regarded the song as a "long-overdue bisexual milestone in mainstream music." In 2019, ''Billboard'' included the song in its list of the "30 Lesbian Love Songs".

Live performances

Halsey and Jauregui performed "Strangers" on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' on June 9, 2017. The following day, the two performed the song at iHeartSummer '17 Weekend in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which s ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. In June 2018, they performed the song on ''

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''.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''

''. * Halsey – vocals * Julian Burg – recording *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering * Serban Ghenea – mixing * John Hanes – engineering for mix *

– vocals * Ezra Kurstin – voices *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...

– drum programming, drums, guitar, keyboards, production, recording * Alex Pasco – recording

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Lauren Jauregui 2017 songs Halsey (singer) songs Lauren Jauregui songs Bisexuality-related songs Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin Songs written by Greg Kurstin Female vocal duets Songs written by Halsey (singer)