The Weeknd, aka Abél Tesfaye, has been at it for years now in the alternative R&B field. Now while some are fairly new to The Weeknd's music (Mostly since his recent massive success), I've been infatuated and intrigued by his music for years now. Way back when he first dropped "House Of Balloons", there was just so much different about this album at the time. R&B has has always sort of been on the more moody side, but The Weeknd just seem so tortured. He sung about affairs, late night drug parties, and really brought you into this twisted world of his. The production was often so airy yet heavy, giving you the feeling that you were sitting in a cloud of smoke with him, as he told you of his night of debauchery. "House Of Balloons" ended up being one of the most telling, interesting R&B debut's I'd heard in ages. Soon after, he released "Thursday", his second mixtape. "Thursday" defintley had some great moments on there, like "Lonely Star" and "The Zone" Featuring Drake. But overall I didn't feel completely immersed in The Weeknd's world like I had on "House Of Balloons". Shortly after though, oh boy, The Weeknd dropped his most ambitious mixtape yet, "Echoes Of Silence". The production wasn't as dense as "House Of Balloons", but "Echoes Of Silence" showed The Weeknd at his most fearless and most creative. Tracks like the haunting "Same Old Song", the frantic "Initiation", the steamy "XO", and his jaw-dropping spot on cover of Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" left me floored. But more than anything, it really left me curious on what his full-length album debut album would be like! Oh boy, did we ever find out when it came to "Kiss Land". Now from this album's intro, "Professional", I was expecting a serious knockout from The Weeknd. But quickly, it began to show that "Kiss Land" was more of a let down than anything. There were a handful of really decent tracks on here, but overall the production was sloppy, the lyrics were at an all time low, and The Weeknd just seemed so less ambitious. Here, he was writing songs that I thought I heard from him half a dozen times at least. At the end of the day, "Kiss Land" wasn't terrible, but it also to me felt like The Weeknd were playing it too safe. Then we have The Weeknd's follow up, "Beauty Behind The Madness". Honestly, I think this is the album The Weeknd seriously needed to make. There were plenty of great singles that both gave him exposure and furthered his character, such as the upbeat and catchy "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills" which showed The Weeknd continuing down this twisted path. The features were also surprisingly good, leave it to The Weeknd to bring out the best in Ed Sheeran and my girl Lana Del Rey. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear anything this soon though from The Weeknd, but nonetheless here we are with his newest release, "Starboy".
(Still one of my favorite covers of the last few years)
“Starboy” starts out with the really solid title track, featuring electronic legends Daft Punk. Instantly, they take the murky dark beat of the track and give it a Sci-Fi twist that I go nuts for. Daft Punk’s influence here is fascinating, of all the collaborators that The Weeknd has worked with, I seriously would not expect this to work out so wonderfully. While this surely isn’t going to be played in any club, there’s plenty of groove to go around. It’s a slight groove and all, but it is there. As far as the vocals go, they’re right where they should be as far as I’m concerned. Lyrically though, The Weeknd hasn’t grown up one bit, not just since the last time we heard from him, like in the past 6 years. He’s still sulking over being this tragic character, lusting after every drug addicted party girl, all of this while having an undeniable swagger that makes you think he doesn’t even want to change if he had the opportunity. Here on “Starboy”, there’s not too much different. The Weeknd is shown singing about this massive commercial success he’s become and all the fame thats followed, while also taking jabs at all of The Weeknd clones you can find on BandCamp, SoundCloud, or any Urban Outfitters near you (C’mon it’s true). This is all done with his usual tragic delivery, but he’s always pulled that off so well. Not to mention, that line about “We don’t Pray For Love” hopefully was a reference to his “Pray 4 Love” track he did with Travis Scott, if it was I’m impressed! It’s a solid pop tune with a great hook at the end of the day, but like a lot of the material here, people are either going to love The Weeknd’s newer, poppier sound, while others are going to be wishing he would go back to the highly atmospheric “House Of Balloons” feel. Moving on, “Reminder” a few tracks later shows a much more bitter side to The Weeknd, one I haven’t seen in quite some time. Following some of the most poppy tracks here, “Reminder” is a return to that deep, atmospheric sound. However, when the verses pick up, I instantly feel like this is everything that The Weeknd should be avoiding. Lyrically, this is pretty important for him to write and all, bringing up the fact that he shouldn't be a role model or a “teen choice”. But when The Weeknd is doing his semi-rap that he’s doing here, I always have such a hard time taking it seriously in the slightest bit. I just don’t think it’s his strength, I’ve always thought The Weeknd is at his best when he’s taking it slow and creating an atmosphere. The later verses DO pick up a bit but overall this just doesn’t grab me. Most of the rest of the album is The Weeknd floating in and out of his comfort zone, sometime flopping so hard that it gets seriously cringe-worthy really fast, the rest of it are some really unexpected gems. Take for example “False Alarm”, which has seriously grown on me over the past month. The first time I heard this, I didn’t even realize it was The Weeknd. I can’t think of a time that I’ve heard The Weeknd in a more chaotic and frantic sound, hell it almost has some post punk/punk feels to it. Lyrically, we’re once again floating around a lot of the same grounds, but The Weeknd’s energy here is seriously commendable. There’s this real sense of chaos that doesn’t let up at all, and if you have only heard the single you should seriously listen to it in context with the album, it’s definitely grown on me since I have. It’s really great to hear The Weeknd really lash out like this, for anyone whose every been a critic of The Weeknd’s hazy, drug fueled after-party atmosphere, give this a shot. There are actually quite a few different sounds here for The Weeknd. Take for example “Six Feet Under”, which I just love how immediately ominous everything sounds. The guitars in the distance sound like their from a desert rock album like some old school Queens Of The Stone Age or Kyuss…..or Lana Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence" (WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE SHARE MY OBSESSION). But in all seriousness the atmosphere here is tremendous and it’s seriously something I can sink my teeth into. There are some really pretty awful lyrics here though, and once again I seriously think The Weeknd needs new material lyrically. But I can’t help but really love to watch The Weeknd get into these situations that fuel this dark, murky atmosphere pretty darn well. Everybody’s favorite mumble-rap phenomenon Future is on this track, who I have the lowest of low tolerances for. But his feature here is limited, and it’s mostly him just being a hype-man, which I can stomach to some extent. Like I said, “Starboy” is a HUGE project for The Weeknd, mostly because it just hits so many huge styles of music. But while that’s probably this projects greatest strength, it’s also a HUGE weakness. Half of these tracks really hit it out of the park, when others start out really strong to just lose steam eventually, and some just flop altogether. “Six Feet Under” has a ton of great elements to it, and overall is a pretty solid tune from The Weeknd. But there are so many forays into new directions, it sometime really makes me miss the simpler times of “House Of Balloons”. Which is SERIOUSLY the case on tracks like “Rockin’”. This one opens up with some woozy synths. Clearly we’re getting another throwback sort of jam, which usually work out pretty well in The Weeknd’s case. As far as the upbeat, glitchy feel to this, there's a lot great about the instrumental itself. But as far as The Weeknd goes, his performance here feels grossly out of place. I always looked at him as this sort of tortured soul, something that really carried well even in his last mainstream success "Beauty Behind The Madness". This just sounds like he's throwing all of that away! Not to mention, that pre-chorus is 100% inexcusable. It's supposed to be showing off his vocal chops, but this one just really comes off ugly. When things pick up for the chorus, it sounds less like a Weeknd track and more like a Justin Timberlake track. Which is totally fine, but it's not what I'm here for. The Weeknd thankfully picks it right back up though for "Secrets", which is honestly a huge highlight for me here. This one is another throwback, and I can totally dig him on this beat. Lyrically though, this honestly isn't what I expected from The Weeknd. If you've been following him as long as I have, you know his type of girl and what he wants. The Weeknd since day 1 has been in it for drugged up party girls looking for a quick good time. But here, we're getting some really sweet and heartfelt vibes from The Weeknd, like he's talking to a girl he seriously likes a lot. It actually comes off wonderful, and there's even a slight Daft Punk feel still drifting around. This album though is seriously just as all over the place and disastrous as The Weeknd often is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMMUH_ZpbB0
OK so let's seriously talk about some of these features. The features on The Weeknd's last album, "Beauty Behind The Madness" were few, but he seriously made them all come off wonderfully. On "All I Know", we see Future pop up again with much more of a presence. And from the start of this one, I honestly thought it was going to be as good as "Six Feet Under". The synth melodies here are killer, and really bring in a lot of great tension that is always welcomed in The Weeknd's music, the bass here is super heavy too. All of the elements on "All I Know" actually work really well for The Weeknd, it comes off as a super murky club banger, which is TOTALLY a sound he can pull off. And while for the most part this is a solid tune, Future's presence towards the end seriously brings down the quality of this one ridiculously. The "Stargirl Interlude" is seriously depressing too. On his last album The Weeknd brought out truly the best in Lana Del Rey for "Prisoner". She's back again for "Stargirl" interlude, but man is this a disappointment. There are tons of Sci-Fi sounding tracks here, but this is by far the spaciest. The main problem here lies in Lana's performance. While I'm actually a gigantic fan of her, I'm here for The Weeknd, and "Stargirl Interlude" is a straight up Lana Del Rey track. On their earlier collaboration's, they played off each other so well, and had chemistry together. This just feels like it doesn't belong at all. She may fit the atmosphere perfectly, but this is nothing but filler. On the other hand, Kendrick Lamar on "Sidewalks" makes for some of the best moments on here. This track seriously doesn't waste a single second coming in with all sorts of super sharp guitars floating through the background. Everything about "Sidewalks" comes off so mysterious and haunting, with The Weeknd's backing vocals being a huge standout. As far as the verses go, The Weeknd once again is going for a sort of rap vibe, the difference is that here it comes off wonderfully. The vocal effects come off nicely too, but if you haven't realized by now, stylistically this album is seriously all over the place. Kendrick's verse here is......well what the hell do you think? Yep, it's pretty damn flawless. Not to mention, his verse is pretty dirty and has a huge sexual undertone which you don't hear from Kendrick too much. To be honest though, on a Weeknd track, it works perfectly, all around "Sidewalks" really works great. However, the inconsistency of this album is it's greatest flaw. There are a handful of really great songs, but there's also so much filler and flops. Not to mention, why the hell is this album so damn long? Who demanded this much material?! And so much DIFFERENT styles too! Take for example "True Colors" which comes off as the closest thing your going to hear to a 90's throwback this year. Now while you would think that this would be right up The Weeknd's ally, this one more than anything comes off super cheesy. Earlier, on "Secrets", The Weeknd at least sounded sincere talking about women. Here, he kinda just comes off as a huge asshole that wants to get in this girls pants for a night without thinking about how it's going to make her feel. His performance here is commendable and all, and as far as a vocal highlight goes this is absolutely one of them, but overall I feel like "True Colors" is just so insincere. "Love To Lay" on the other hand, has the exact opposite affect. On this one, The Weeknd starts off with these great drums building up what you would think would be a banging beat. But no, it transitions into another murky dark slow track. The Weeknd here hasn't sounded this tortured in years. Lyrically, we see him once again falling for these promiscuous party girls who just want The Weeknd for a night or two. At this point though, The Weeknd's been singing about these girls for like 8 years, he's never going to learn. Surprisingly though, this picks up nicely and becomes one of the catchiest and memorable tracks on here. The biggest element here though remains just how tragic The Weeknd's performance is,hell I almost feel sorry for the guy. A lot of these tracks also really hone in on The Weeknd's thoughts on his growing fame, specifically just how lonely he is. "Ordinary Life" is a total different kind of throwback, one that goes way back to his roots of "House Of Balloons". There are a few instances of this sound on here, but "Ordinary Life" by far works the best for The Weeknd. We're back to a much darker sound once again, but this one is seriously smooth as heck. And if you can stomach another tale of late nights and seduction (that ACTUALLY gets pretty hot and heavy), you'll totally dig this one. The backing synths that show up on the chorus give this track a really tragic feel. This literally sounds like a lot of the material on "House Of Balloons" with more updated production that makes it less suffocating. Not to mention, the vocal effects seriously give this one a really hip edge to it, not bad at all.
Like I said before, man is this album ever super inconsistent. As iffy as a lot of this album is, I can't praise "Party Monster" enough. Every time I heard that synth intro I can't help but get hyped, it almost sounds like the intro credits music from an awful b-list 80's horror movie. That doesn't surprise me too much though, The Weeknd has always described his life as a sort of horror movie. While The Weekn continues to repackage the same lyrical tales again and again, this one is seriously done wonderfully. The beat here continues to be ridiculous, it's nothing too flashy but man does it ever get me going. As far as singles go, I think it's the best one here. Plus Lana Del Rey shows up towards the end of this one again, but this collaboration is much more enjoyable. "Attention" late in the album is another throwback to the early days of The Weeknd, but man is this one ever out of place. The atmosphere is here, that's for sure. But everything else is seriously desperately looking for any sort of direction. Here, The Weeknd has shown once again he can ace the atmosphere of his old sound, but here he has zero ambition to make it perfect. It's missing some of the murkier production quirks, and to be honest more than anything this is coming off as a Weeknd ripoff that you can find dozens of all over BandCamp. But "Attention"'s worst flaw is how unbearably boring it is, this sounds like it would have landed on "Kiss Land". Not to mention, those are some vocal effects that I'm sure somewhere James Blake and Bon Iver are getting a good laugh over. On the other hand, "A Lonely Night" has some serious undeniable funk to it. If The Weeknd hadn't already given us some Michael Jackson worship in his career, this is the next level. While lyrically, more now than ever The Weeknd needs some NEW MATERIAL PLEASE, this groove is undeniable. Plus, as far as a throwback sound goes, this is pretty classy. Some of the other throwback sounds have come off halfhearted, but this seriously sounds straight out of the 80's. I mean, If you're looking for a sound that The Weeknd was pushing out during his "House Of Balloons" days though, you're going to want to run away as fast as you can, I'll be here grooving away though. As far as the last few tracks on the album go, it's pretty damn disappointing. First we have "Nothing Without You". I honestly was super hyped for this one when I heard how heavy that intro was, and as far as the instrumental goes this seriously is a sounds that he should be going for more of. But lyrically this one starts off whiny as hell and just gets more and more whiny as the track rolls on. Recently at lease, The Weeknd has gotten a sort of swagger to his sound, but this is just so ridiculously uncertain of itself that I can't take it seriously. "Die For You" is no better, trust me. Once again we find The Weeknd going for a huge 90's slow jam feel. But once again, his vocals and the atmosphere are on point, but everything else is completely faceless. Some of the harmonies here are seriously hard to swallow,and it's a shame because I feel stylistically this is a good direction for him. Thankfully though, he does end "Starboy" off on a solid note with "I Feel It Coming". Daft Punk are back for this one, and you can clearly feel their influence right off the bat. Honestly, Daft Punk and The Weeknd actually have a ton of great chemistry together. It has a lot of the same elements that they had on their earlier collaboration, and I love how even though there's a heavy throwback feel here it still seems futuristic thanks to Daft Punk. Oddly enough, "I Feel It Coming" is one of the most hopeful sounding tracks here, hell make that the entire Weeknd discography. It's funky, it's bright, and The Weeknd sounds totally fine with all of this. Once again though, this is totally different than The Weeknd's earlier material. So if your looking for something more along those lines, I suggest you head for "The Hills", GET IT. I'm here all week.
Rating: 7.2/10
Give A Listen To: “Party Monster”, “Secrets”, “Sidewalks”, "Love To Lay"
Overall Thoughts: I was HOPING this was going to be one of my favorites for the year, I really was. But this album is inconsistent as all hell. Thankfully, there was enough good material on here to keep your interest, but in between most of it there is a sea of filler that's just depressing to hear. Plus, stylistically this thing is allllll over the place, with The Weeknd occasionally nailing these brave new ventures while other times making me cling to my vinyl copies of "House Of Balloons" and "Echoes Of Silence".
No comments:
Post a Comment