I’m a lover of Hip Hop but no one can deny that rhythm and blues is music at its finest but lets face it folks, the genre that was once home to Marvin Gaye is now a multi-coloured, tuti fruity, teeny bopper, manufactured mess!! Yes, I still see and hear salvation in the likes of Maxwell and Eric Benét but just like Hollywood, there’s a serious lack of originality…
Enter ‘The Weeknd’… there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the artist, many people are referring to The Weeknd as a group but in fact it’s come to light recently that it’s just one person, 20 year old Abel Tesfaye and he works with his two producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo. Fellow Toronto-based artist Drake seems to have been credited for raising awareness for The Weeknd via a link to the website on twitter and also a quote off of one of his tracks called “Wicked Games”.
The Weeknd’s style is original, his sound is electro-indie-alternative-neo-soul (yeah, someone needs to name a new genre category for this!) and his songs are riddled with pitch perfect tales of indulgence in drugs, strippers and dark love affairs. It’s all pretty hard to ignore, from the artsy-porn style artwork to the dark atmospheric production and lyrics. Furthermore there’s a undeniable confidence on this album and you feel that this was a real labour of love.
You can get a vibe of his influences just by looking at the samples that have been used such as Aaliyah’s ‘Rock the Boat’ (rnb), Beach House’s ‘Master of None’ (indie) and Siouxsie & The Banshees ‘Happy House’ (post-punk rock).
The most astonishing thing is that The Weeknd has done something the music industry has failed to do; he’s gathered a following and established a presence using social media. His album “House of Balloons” is available for FREE (yeah, ridiculous huh?!) on his official website. “House of Balloons” is the first instalment in a trilogy of albums with “Thursday” and “Echo’s of Silence“ to follow.
Seriously folks, this album is 9 tracks of impressive quality and originality. I can listen to the entire album from start to finish without skipping a track and although I love the entire thing my stand out songs are “The Morning”, “The Party & The After Party”, “Wicked Games”, “Loft Music”… you know what? I’m going to end up naming every track… you get the idea! Lets stick to those 4 tracks as ‘stand outs’.
Even as you read this, The Weeknd’s music is virally spreading across the internet and his cult following (including moi, I’ve had it on rotation for the last 3 weeks) continues to grow everyday…
VERDICT
The Weeknd has arrived… you can’t buy buzz like this!
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