The Weeknd Madness turns to Beauty on new album.
There is beauty behind the madness and that is Abel Tesfaye’s new perspective on the direction of his music.
The Weeknd’s major pop transition seems to have sprouted out of nowhere, but in fact it has been carefully orchestrated for years. The last studio album he put out was Kiss Land and did him absolutely no justice. Although Kiss Land had cool artwork ideas and features from Pharrell & Drake, it still seemed so confusing with no prominent direction. The Weeknd’s music, the man Abel, and the movement XO has all grown tremendously over the past year. Beauty Behind The Madness is the culmination of what XO is at this point in time.
The Weeknd first appeared as just a myth. Music without a face. When his debut album House of Balloons released via Drake’s blog October’s Very Own, maybe 5 years ago, it was so different and ignorant and beautiful. You definitely had to be “High For This” while listening to HOB. Abel hasn’t necessarily sold out if that’s what your’e thinking. He has just become really f****** great at what he does. The XO movement is still major and now more than ever as a successful clothing line. Future is the latest celebrity who has been seen consistently rocking the XO gear.
Beauty Behind The Madness is what should have been his first studio album i.e. Kiss Land. The textures and haunting vocals are exactly what you should expect to hear when you mention The Weeknd. Although he has slightly censored his delinquent, drug heavy music, you can still feel their presence if you listen. He has somehow figured out how to make doing drugs and fucking models appealing and acceptable to the general public by creating catchy hooks and bubbly choruses.
There are only three major features on Beauty Behind The Madness. The first feature comes from a London Borough local named Labrinth. “Losers” is a very different record considering most of executive producer Illangelo’s music is much darker. Some of this brighter influence is coming from other executive producer Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville. DaHeala, who has worked on numerous Weeknd projects including production on the global hit single “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)”.
An interesting gem found within the album would be that Mike Dean produced “Dark Times”, which features Ed Sheeran. Mike Dean most notable for engineering almost everything Kanye West has ever done. A living legend for sure. Mix those two elements together and you have got yourself a sure thing. Remember Sheeran got a platinum album X with help from music producer and guru Rick Rubin.
This next collaboration was a movie in the making for some years now. Weeknd and Lana Del Rey aka Lizzy Grant mysteriously surfaced around the same time. “Prisoner” honestly shows a different side, vocally from Lana Del Rey. Classic eerie Abel cries throughout this uptempo ballad. Weeknd first played this song at Coachella, but it was simply the instrumental. It has been on repeat almost the entire time writing this.
“You ain’t got no Yeezy on yo’ album?” Fortunately for The Weeknd he got an entire song produced by Kanye West. “Tell Your Friends” is sample-based so you know it’s real. It sounds like it could have been easily used on a Common or John Legend album. Abel owns it and turns it into an original Weeknd hit. “Last year I did all the politicking, this year I’m gon’ focus on the vision”. His vision is clear. The visuals to this single are clear. Beauty Behind The Madness.
The world is about to witness history in the making because what Abel Tesfaye is currently doing to music is next level. Expect Beauty Behind The Madness to sweep multiple categories come awards season. Out the gate this album had 4 hit singles on the charts; “Can’t Feel My Face”, “Earned It”, “Often” and “The Hills” are all high quality summer hits of 2015. I consider Beauty Behind The Madness a perfect example of a pop album of this generation. The main difference between Drake and The Weeknd is Weeknd makes timeless music and Drake makes music for right now. A phase that will inevitably come to an end. When that time comes Drake will be begging The Weeknd for a feature. Catch the Madness Tour and understand a legend is in the making.
