It was the first listen of 'Wicked Games', in October 2011, in all it's mournful hedonism that first captured me. When I heard 'Wicked Games', I knew he would be a star, if he wanted to, and he did. It was darker, more well produced, and painfully delivered, then anything I'd heard in awhile, 'Novacane' was similar, but this cut a little deeper, and a little harsher....It wasn't about strippers and sex, or some sort of last call at the club song, though it's certainly been that for many, but that's not the true heart of the song, or the Weeknd's music.
It's about addiction, self loathing, insecurity, that blank eyed stare gazing into a strange woman's face wondering what you are doing in bed with her...which if you really lived that life, and had the depth to understand why you did that, is what the music really represents. I spent a lot of time as a teenager on that same path described in his work, slept with less less woman, sold way more work, but a lot of nights lost in fishscale and Remy Martin, blue valiums crushed up on a desk in a mid range hotel, and women I never knew well, and who knew me less. I don't expect Weeknd to go back to 'Trilogy', he never needed to, as an incredibly talented and creative artist. And by now, a kind of myth has kind of developed around 'Trilogy', they were never perfect, and he channels that era and that kind of music very often....Trilogy was dope, but flawed, raw emotion and talent on full display. He's improved since. Personally, 'Kissland' is his best work to date.
'Beauty Behind The Madness' was uneven and lacked a feel, besides a kind of shaving down some of the rougher edges of the Weeknd, and him trying to find a balance between the two...Some worked, and pushed him into a space where songs like 'As You Are', 'Often', 'The Hills' are near perfect fusion, and improvement on anything he did previously. A lot of missed, and the result was bland tracks, that came off as forced, or just filler.....I loved 'In The Night', and it's that style along with 'I Can't My Feel My Face' that he has really embraced on here, and so the album is accessible, very much to a fault, for someone who doesn't really listen to the Weeknd to hear mindless, flimsy odes to various pop/edm/electronic cliches, which is what a lot of this album consists of. Though, there is a cohesion here, that album lacked, this could be easily cut by 5-7 tracks.
'Nothing Without You', 'Die For You', 'Love To Lay', and 'False Alarm', all range from forgettable, to just bad, on any scale we are dealing with. They are just so bland, so safe, so smooth, so accessible, fleeting, weightless tracks that pass through with no merit, and no depth. I think 'Secrets' is much better then those, it has the feel of 'In The Night', and 'I Can't Feel My Face', and it's a little more generic then the former, but a great song. 'A Lonely Night' I feel is a worthy entry into the modern MJ type track... Feels like Weeknd excelling at his craft. 'Rockin' is less perfect, feels more deliberate in it's desire to be a Billboard hit.
'Six Feet Under' has production I sort of like, and represents the shift in Weeknd fans, from the ones who prefer the music darker, and more detailed....This would be the third (or so) time he has used a song to describe essentially the life of a stripper/prostitute, 'In The Night', 'Professional', and at least 2 tracks before, are all basically chronicling 'the life', as seen from both inside and outside. But, there has been no continuation of the story. No third act to the narrative. And without an exceptional beat, or great lyrics, 'Six Feet Under' is a retread. I know prostitutes, I know strippers (as do we all) personally, and there is great material there, but we are stuck in the middle of the story. And it's again, a very safe approach.
There's this idea that when Weeknd does a song like 'Reminder', he's going back to his old style, but you'll find nothing like that until 2013, (I think he first tried it out on 'Kissland' (Song), and I think it worked best on that) I fukk with some of it, and some of it overreaches. I like 'Reminder', but it's not incredible.... Simply talking about drugs, sex, fame, in a spoken word manner really isn't at all what his 'real' style is. 'Tell Your Friends' became one of my most played tracks. 'Sidewalks' has some dope lyrics, very much a 'Tell Your Friends' sequel. The album as a whole lacks an urgency, or vulnerability. The production on a track like 'Party Monster' is very dope, but don't the lyrics seem pretty tame, and without edge? Blandly accessible, and relatively inoffensive and inclusive to all.... 'The Hills' had lines like 'when I'm fukked up that's the real me....', and 'Party Monster' references Angelina Jolie, and assorted celebrities.
'Ordinary Life' is closer to what I most appreciate about his music, but even that track has kind of stunted production, and isn't on par with previous efforts to channel those thoughts. I think 'True Colors' is bland too, but I've seen people really praising that. The Lana Del Rey feature is cool, but too little, too slight, too fleeting to really make an impact on the album's quality. I know the Weeknd can still make incredibly dope music, and there's some on here.... 'Wild Love', 'Lonely Thoughts' esp the former were favorites of mine this year, on a plane, alone in foreign countries and foreign cities it made a great soundtrack. This album is too clean, too smooth, too nice.....When I drank, I never chased liquor, I liked the burn, never wanted a mixed drink, I'd drink 151 and Hennessy straight out of the bottle. I like the burn. I like the darkness. Weeknd's best music is like liquor straight, doesn't always feel good, but that's why you fukk with it. This is a lot of like Rose, or whatever, easy to drink, easy to forget.
