It wasnt until his major-label debut on Republic Records, 2013s Kiss Land. So why the attempt to keep this thing from being called what it clearly is? Perhaps the Weeknd - an old-school album guy who’s spent the last year and change promoting 2020’s “After Hours” in costume - thinks the openly commercial format cheapens his songs. Cant Feel My Face elevated The Weeknd from a mystery to a superstar. Issued just a couple of days before he’ll headline the halftime show at Sunday’s Super Bowl LV, the close-to-comprehensive “Highlights” does what all best-of collections do: rounds up an act’s most well-known material so that anyone made curious about him - by, say, a performance on music’s most-watched stage - can quickly get up to speed. Now THAT'S entertainment.The Weeknd says his new compilation, “The Highlights,” is not a greatest-hits set, but the only reason anyone should take that claim seriously is because the album doesn’t include his ecstatic 2015 single “In the Night.” The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights Named The New No. The singer and songwriter arrived in 2011 with three mixtapes offering morose ballads that seemed to have no designs on. And luckily, for us, like some audio broadcast reality show - one far too X rated for mainstream consumption - he tells all about in seductively explicit detail. The Weeknd is the alias of alternative R&B enigma-turned-pop star Abel Tesfaye, whose aching accounts of emotionally and physically toxic indulgences have translated to multi-platinum sales and Grammy recognition. He repeatedly, seemingly unaware of the inevitable consequences, strides himself right into the mouth of emotional oblivion, over and over and over again. For the most part, there is no self-awareness in Abel Tesfaye's chemically fogged head. James Blake’s ‘Overgrown’ Count down NME’s best albums of 2013 starting at 50 with James Blake’s ‘Overgrown’ Find out NME’s 50 top tracks of 2013 here. Sometimes a lyric is so ridiculous, hits you so bluntly, you can't help but laugh. Because let's face it, there's an intoxicating indulgence in rooting for Abel Tesfaye - R&B's quintessential anti-hero.īut, there is another side to The Weeknd's musings.
It's hard not to sit back and listen with awe, as Tesfaye's narcissism unravels into a self-deprecating hell. Despite all its sexism, vanity, and gross decadence, The Weeknd's music is gorgeous. But where? To a fantasy world of Tesfaye's own making, a pleasure-centered nightmare tucked neatly between detestable and irresistible. The sonically-charged track exemplifies The Weeknd’s ability to consistently evolve his sound and his knack for story-telling through his music. WEIRD ALS WORKING ON A BRAND NEW ALBUM Al was in NYC this weekend - and as the master of parody was strolling into a building in Midtown, he told. On the The Weeknd's single "Loft Music," Abel Tesfaye brags that he'll "put your mind in a dream world." It's true, the R&B music of The Weeknd certainly transports you somewhere. The Weeknd releases his much anticipated single Take My Breath, the first from his forthcoming album as announced in his GQ global cover story this week.