CULTURE

The Mystical Union of Halsey and Evan Peters: Tumblr's Greatest Crossover Couple

Turns out angsty Tumblr superstars of 2014 can find real love in 2019.

Halsey and Evan Peters

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

"Bad at Love" singer Halsey and American Horror Story actor Evan Peters are officially dating.

They made things official this weekend, stepping out on Friday dressed as two of music's most terrifying figures. Halsey went as a red-haired Marilyn Manson, and Peters was a Juggalo, a fan of the Insane Clown Posse. Then on Saturday, they arrived at the 100th episode celebration of American Horror Story as a polka-dot-clad Sunny Bono and Cher.

The two first sparked dating rumors when they were seen on a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. They're both coming off breakups—Peters' seven year relationship with Emma Roberts ended in March after it apparently became toxic. Though it's unclear exactly when Halsey and Yungblud broke up, they were dating at least through September.

Following Halsey and Peters' roller-coaster debut, fans quickly dug up some of Halsey's old tweets about Evan Peters. For those who didn't know, for a total of seven years, Halsey's been tweeting about her crush on the actor. Though they've all been deleted, as we know, nothing on the Internet ever goes away.


"Halsey, your powers are strong. May this be a lesson to us all!" wrote Mari Lodi in Vulture when the dating rumors began to swirl. It's true that Halsey's ability to successfully tweet her way into a relationship may indicate that she's cast some sort of occult love spell, but honestly, Halsey has always been powerful on her own. She recorded her first demo, "Is There Somewhere," on GarageBand while a homeless teen and scored a major label contract. Her first (and best) album, Badlands, went platinum, and if you listen to its lyrics, you can see that Halsey's always had some sort of divine power. Maybe it's because of her song "Hurricane," but if I had to judge her type of magic, I'd label her as a weather witch, able to conjure up storms and to change the color of the sky (possibly from red to blue to violet) at will.

Meanwhile, Evan Peters has been dabbling in occultism on his own, albeit in his role on American Horror Story. He was the iconic homicidal ghost Tate Langdon in Murder House, and in a 2012 tweet, Halsey perfectly articulated every teenage girl's feelings about his character. "Seriously Evan Peters stop making me attracted to alleged sociopaths and accused murderers…" she wrote.

Now that their union has emerged from the purely ethereal plane, becoming manifest on our physical one, we can see that it was always written in the stars. They do seem to exist in separate universes, in a way, as they come from TV and pop music respectively. On the other hand, they're both the highest possible evolution of Urban Outfitters teens, Tumblr darlings who somehow made their way into adulthood without losing their perfectly grungy, relatable-yet-alluring mystique. Of course they chose Scorpio season to make their debut as a couple; this time of transformation, rebirth, intensity, and Halloween seems designed for them to join forces. Plus, Sunday was a New Moon, the most goth of all the moons, perfect for a couple that captions their Instagram couple shots "Resident goths."

Sure, their best work may have been done years ago, but maybe this means there's more magic where their early masterpieces came from. Maybe Halsey will write a song from the perspective of Violet Langdon (she did film the music video for "Colors" in the actual Murder House from AHS Season 1). Maybe I don't know which one I'm more attracted to, but I'm not complaining. Maybe if we Tweet enough about our truest desires, they might just become incarnate—though of course, being a world-famous pop star helps.

Halsey - Colors (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com


Twitter

SPOILER ALERT! Don't read this if you haven't seen the first episode yet — unless that's what you're into.

I've been a fan of American Horror Story since the beginning days of 'Murder House' — and of course, problematically 'shipping' Tate and Violet. 'Asylum' definitely followed the first season well, but 'Coven' broke the trend with its messy plot lines and random directions. After watching the first few episodes of 'Freak Show,' I broke it off with AHS — the seasons were definitely getting worse and worse.

However, when I heard that 'Apocalypse' would be a crossover between the first and third seasons, I was more intrigued — very rarely do shows with this format crossover their seasons or episodes. Working with viewers' nostalgia is always a good way to go to get views — and tie up loose ends.

In this first episode, we don't really get anything yet — the show starts out in Santa Monica where everyone gets the same 'end-of-the-world' text. Leslie Grossman plays Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt, a socialite with a billion dollar inheritance who is bent on becoming an Instagram influencer. She's tended to by her assistant Mallory, played by Billie Lourd, and her hairdresser Mr. Gallant, played by Evan Peters — kind of disappointing as I expected him to reprise his role as Tate Langdon.

After receiving the texts, Coco gets a call from her family in Hong Kong that alerts her of a plane with four tickets to carry her to safety — she manages to take Mallory, and Gallant wiggles his way in with his suspiciously Trump-supporting Nana, played by Joan Collins. In all the chaos, Coco leaves behind her husband Brock — a very fun cameo by Billy Eichner.

Other quick scenes happen — two teenagers are taken to the shelter for their DNA, one that just got into UCLA and one jailed for leading protests on campus, and a replayed clip of a newscaster saying goodbye to his children — then, we're introduced to 'The Cooperative.'

Ignoring for a second the strangely compliant sounding name, 'The Cooperative' is a converted all boys boarding school run by Wilhelmina Venable, played by our queen Sarah Paulson, and her right-hand woman Ms. Miriam Meed, played by our other queen, Kathy Bates. The Outpost is organized by the grays — the help — and the purples — the elite. And of course, they wear their respective colors.

The Outpost seems like it transported back a hundred years rather than in the expected future — everyone's clothes are colonial-era, the food is vitamin-enhanced gelatin cubes, and the same song plays over and over again. Oh and also, Venable and Meed torture and kill guests for their amusement.

One scene that was particularly upsetting was after they washed/tortured a man named Stu and Gallant for having radiation — a gimmick by Meed — they killed Stu for having more radiation and, well, made him into stew for the others to eat as a 'treat.' Nana, not so surprisingly, didn't have a problem with it.

Flash forward 18 months later, teens Emily and Timothy have of course fallen in love and everyone else is on the verge of a breakdown. A mysterious stranger comes to the gate in a carriage carried by two horses — his name is Michael Langdon, played by Cody Fern.

Die-hard fans will definitely recoil at the name — he's the satanic baby made by Vivien and Tate in Murder House and has come to judge who he'll take to his shelter, one that has 10 years of food. Isn't it sweet — all grown up and killing horses!

Langdon's directions to kill his horses was a bit of a shock since it was his only way of travel — but it did end the episode with an ultimatum that viewers will probably be haunted by until the next episode. I know I will be — perhaps AHS is turning around on its bad seasons and finally challenging us with its psychological thrills again.


Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and intern at the Stonewall National Monument.


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