The Dual Impact of The Weeknd on Modern R&B
How The Weeknd shifted the landscape of R&B in the 2010s
Entering the 2010s, contemporary R&B began embracing electronic dance music (EDM) influences, as artists like Ne-Yo, Usher, Chris Brown, and Rihanna started releasing more pop-centric tracks fusing R&B with EDM. Songs such as DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love and Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself), We Found Love, and Don’t Wake Me Up exemplified this upbeat dance-pop/R&B blend that was dominating the mainstream.
While some contemporary R&B artists managed to find success while retaining a more traditional R&B sound during this period, like Monica’s Everything to Me, Elle Varner’s Refill, and Frank Ocean’s Thinking Bout You. These hits kept an authentic, non-EDM R&B spirit alive amidst the popularity of dance/pop fusion.
In 2011, an anonymous singer from Toronto known only as The Weeknd took R&B into uncharted territory. With the release of a trilogy of mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, he pioneered a new subgenre that came to be known as “dark R&B.” The Weeknd’s haunting falsetto over moody, electronic production created a groundbreaking ethereal, melancholic style that starkly contrasted the upbeat EDM-influenced dance-pop dominating mainstream R&B.
