Badlands is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Halsey, released on August 28, 2015 by Astralwerks and Capitol. According to Halsey, Badlands is a concept album that focuses on the fictional dystopian society known as The Badlands. The city is surrounded by a desert wasteland, keeping the inhabitants of The Badlands captive. The album was inspired by post-apocalyptic movies such as Blade Runner and The Fifth Element. After writing the first few songs, Halsey came to the realization that the entire concept was a metaphor for her mental state. Halsey states that she created the Badlands as an escape from her real life struggles. In her opinion, the metaphor was that even with no escape, there is still optimism that there is somewhere else to go.