Halo Boy breaks down his reflective debut album Sim City

Halo Boy is capturing the isolating effects of Hollywood fame with the release of his debut album, Sim City. The genre-defiant artist navigates through the city’s unforgiving social landscape and heartbreak in 12 songs. The album, driven by emotion-fueled lyrics, ultimately highlights the distinction between the real world and stardom. “Sim City is an interpretation of my experience in Los Angeles trying to find and maintain meaningful relationships in a very artificial environment,” Halo Boy explains.

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From fear-induced nightmares to glimpses of a dystopian world, Halo Boy breaks down the inspiration and personal experiences that influenced his debut album.

“Sim City” 

The album starts with the title track “Sim City,” where I find myself in a completely synthetic world where I’m not able to fit in. The lyrics describe a world where everyone’s true self is completely hidden, and everything is only experienced through filters. It feels like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.

“Wake Up”

The next track “Wake Up” is a short interlude to signify that “Sim City” was just a dream that I was having on my plane trip right before touching down to start my new life in LA.

“Fame”

Fame is about being in the LA social scene and falling for someone who is obsessed with clout. I feel very alien to this kind of social scene, so I start feeling like I need to change who I am in order to form a connection with someone. This is where the lyric “I would sell my soul” comes from.

“Ka-Ching” 

I start to rediscover my own confidence as I realize that most everyone is putting on a front when it comes to their own status and wealth. No matter what we show on the surface, we all want the same things at the end of the day — one of those things being human connection. 

“She’s Got a Gun” 

This song is about a heartbreaker who’s extremely good at making other people fall in love with them for the sole purpose of getting money and status in return. After they’ve gotten what they want, they toss the person aside.

“Girl”

In this song, I’m talking about my jealousy of the social status that comes with feminine power. I see that it’s easier for girls to get into parties, land meetings in the industry and grow on social media. I start to fantasize about how I would take over the world if I were a girl.

“Heartbreak”

This song is about falling for the heartbreaker I talk about in “She’s Got A Gun” even though I consciously know I’m going to end up getting hurt like the rest of them. 

“Colors”

This song captures the feeling of when you first have a crush on someone. This is sort of a breath of fresh air from the gray dystopian world that has started to take shape inside my brain. 

“Autopilot”

“Autopilot” is about completely giving up on the relationship I was in and deciding to let it crash and burn. I felt like I was having all my energy drained just to keep it alive. I decided not to let that happen anymore and to stop trying to be someone that I’m not.

“Hollow” 

After a steady decline of losing myself to the toxic relationships I’ve made in this new city/ lifestyle, I start to feel exhausted and empty. At this point, I still haven’t discovered real human connection, and my reality is starting to look more and more like the nightmare of “Sim City.”

“Burn Down Hollywood”

This is about an ex fully ruining Hollywood for me. I realize that so many of the bad experiences I had in the Hollywood social environment were because I was going along with someone else and not being true to myself. When looking at what was best for me, I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time, and because of that, I built up resentment for Hollywood in general for a while.

“miss u” 

This song was written as a stream of consciousness. I admit to myself that I’ve become reliant on external love to find self-value. I realize that nothing outside of myself can hold any promise, and my current mindset is headed toward self-destruction. For the first time in a long time, I start to miss my old self, and funny enough, in this moment of honesty and vulnerability, I start to feel alive and human again.