Halsey Delivered Powerful Speech at New York Women’s March 2018

Halsey delivered a robust and moving speech at the Women’s March 2018 in New York on Saturday (January 20).
Addressing the crowd in New York, Halsey said the event was her second march. “I was in DC last year and I came back to do a speech this time, but I don’t really know how to do a speech unless it rhymes, so I’m going to do a little poem for you guys,” she said.
She had written a poem called A Story In Time. The singer then recited the poem that opened with her recalling going to Planned Parenthood with a friend who had been raped as a teenager, and moved on to discuss further instances of sexual assault she had experienced later in life. The piece also reflected feelings of confusion and unease in situations with men she thought she could trust.
In it, she also spoke about a miscarriage she suffered whilst on tour. “I believe I’m protected cos I live on a screen/Nobody would dare act that way around me,” she rhymed. “I’ve earned my protection, eternally clean.
“Until a man that I trust gets his hands in my pants/But I don’t want none of that, I just wanted to dance/And I walk up the next morning like I’m in a trance/And there’s blood – is that my blood?”
She continued: “I’ve worked every day since I was 18/I’ve toured everywhere from Japan to Mar-a-Lago/I even went on stage that night in Chicago/When I was having a miscarriage.
“I pied the piper, I put on a diaper/And sang out my spleen to a room full of teens/What do you mean this happened to me?”
Prior this month, Halsey hit out at Firefly Music Festival for not featuring more female acts on their line-up.
“Damn guys come onnnnnn,” she wrote. “Where the women at? This was one of my favorite festivals I’ve ever played and it’s a shame there’s not more females on the bill. With the exception of (the amazing) SZA, the first like 20 acts on the bill are men. It’s 2018, do better!”
> Shiuly Akter