As our world changes forever, The Weeknd’s does too
Synth and chill waves crash to wash up on the shore of this painful magnum opus
The singles from The Weeknd’s new album dripped with a poignant pain most attributed to the falling out of his most recent romantic relationship. Heartless, Blinding Lights, and After Hours all conveyed emotionally hurt truths about the album that, honestly, adequately prepared us for the 11 album cuts.
As the album starts, The Weeknd’s processed vocals unravel over a rolling, dubby bassline. He’s alone again, for the trillionth time. The song could and should start 2:24 in. That’s when The Weeknd’s vocals are the most processed, and that’s when the production plummets to the ground floor just moments before staccatoed blips infiltrate the sound. He goes on to harmonize before telling the subject of the song to “count it up”. He’s a sad man, and he knows it, but he doesn’t care.
In the next song, Too Late, our fallen hero has moved into the house regret built and made himself at home. The chorus is convincing as any, and The Weeknd pulls one of the oldest tricks out of the songwriting book. He doesn’t finish his sentence, and pulls back just before having the final word that would leave the story told and the album done. But he’s not done. He’s just getting started.
As the album moves on to offer Hardest to Love, a song straight out of a 99 cent paperback’s plot, the sound does the concept justice. The Weeknd is tackling this R&B-informed ambient music, glitch, house, and techno with some gusto and soul. It’s the most zeroed in concept on the album, and the one that gives the most coherent reason for all this romantic angst. It’s The Weeknd’s self-awareness that breeds this tune.
Things have been upbeat so far, and I love a good sequencing. However, things slow down a little too soon on the fourth track, Scared To Live. By slow down, I mean abruptly halt. The tempo’s cut in half, and I feel the momentum suffers a bit. It’s a misfired and mistimed ballad on an otherwise progressive record.
I wish The Weeknd let Hardest to Love segue into the fifth track instead, Snowchild. He’s opening up. “I used to pray when I was sixteen / If I didn't make it then I'd probably make my wrist bleed”. The second verse on this song is an album highlight. In 16 bars, he name-checks the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick alongside Eminem, Jay-Z, Swayze, and Swae Lee. That’s pretty much The Weeknd’s sonic brand in a verse. In his music, he’s always been transparent about his interest in the slightly eccentric, off-kilter figures culture has to offer while making sure his appreciation for the mainstream is on record.
Escape from LA has the Instagram captions on lock, especially “You got me tattooed on your mind”. The outro is a top moment. He paints a vivid picture of a situation inside his recording studio, moment by moment. The snaps towards the end of the song tie it together. The transitions from song to song are immaculate.
He sounds the most alive on Heartless. Vocally, it might be the most impassioned performance throughout the album. The most rap-friendly song on the album, The Weeknd’s making it clear there’s something for everyone on this album. That is a difficult feat for a singer.
Faith welcomes the rolling, dubby bassline once more, and sets up the narrative for the next song, Blinding Lights. The Weeknd’s world building is starting to stick here. The post-chorus on Faith, “I’ve been sober for a year, now it’s time for me / To back to my old ways / don’t you cry for me / Thought I’d be a better man / but I lied to me and to you”, finds The Weeknd experimenting with uncharted vocally delivered territory. In the second verse, he bars up. “But if I OD / I want you to OD right beside me / I want you to follow right behind me / I want you to hold me while I'm smiling / While I'm dying”.
Blinding Lights should win a Grammy.
Either In Your Eyes or Save Your Tears is a solid choice for the new single. I’m beyond relieved when In Your Eyes starts to play and transitions into Save Your Tears. Things have felt heavy on the album for some time now, and these songs feel rightly lighter. It’s fun, it’s 1980’s, it’s sipping cocktails in someone’s cabin over the winter holidays looking over the snowy slopes wearing ugly sweaters as the fireplace crackles. The saxophone in the outro of In Your Eyes drives this point home.
And yet, Repeat After Me (Interlude) is the moment many have been waiting for. Rumors swirled that The Weeknd and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker were spending time together in the studio. Here’s the glorious result. The first half of the song makes indecipherable noise but the second half makes zero qualms. The Weeknd’s songwriting here is vicious and vengeful. He’s done apologizing. He feels he’s in the right, after all. He calls her bluff, and says he’ll even wipe the tears from her eyes.
After Hours, the penultimate track, a 6-minute two-part opera that unleashes all of The Weeknd’s pent-up feelings about his relationships once more, is again the victim of hapless sequencing. This song buddies up with Scared To Live to take the cake for just not quite fitting in with the rest of the album from a chronological perspective.
The Weeknd finishes this incredibly well produced and mixed cinematic album by tacking on a song that invokes goriness. It’s called Until I Bleed Out, and for those with sensitive stomachs, you might wanna call it an album after After Hours. If the sight of blood makes you queasy, you might want to skip this song too. The song ends suddenly, and then it’s all over, and you’re left wishing the singer well on this clearly cathartic release as he gears up for a massive 67-date tour set to kick off this June.
The songs will do well live. The Weeknd made an album without any features and it worked. Too Late, In Your Eyes, and Save Your Tears remain the most accessible non-singles on the LP.
The Weeknd is not done gaining new fans, but he’s still winking at his old ones.