Review #442: Beauty Behind the Madness, The Weeknd
#442: Beauty Behind the Madness, The Weeknd
So, mostly, I actively avoid the Weeknd. I know it makes me sound so bitter and mean, kind of like when I say “I hate Fun.”
Why don’t I like him, you may ask. Let me count the ways. I wasn’t really aware of him until his stupid Superbowl LV performance, which he did by himself without any guest stars, like he was Rihanna or something. Remember how he advertised his performance by wearing bandages on his face? Ugh. Also, I watched that HBO show The Idol and thought it was terrible and he was bad. And I think he needs his Twitter privileges taken away.
There, I got all the mean, childish things I had to say out of the way. Sorry, the Weeknd. Now I’ll try and give you a real chance.
Not gonna lie, it took me some time to get over my hatred. Though the Weeknd has some banging beats — like the smokey piano lounge Kanye track “Tell Your Friends” and the desperate dance track “In The Night” — I couldn’t get past his lyrics.
God, he sounds like a middle schooler. In “Real Life”: Mama called me destructive/ Said it ruined me one day. Grammatically incorrect! In “Acquainted”: I’m so glad we’re acquainted. Awkward! And don’t get me started on the songs that the Weeknd seems to think are sexy but are absolutely not. I loved the beat of “Often” and the strings on “Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey),” but I couldn’t get past the words on “As You Are” or the especially awful “Angel”: You’ll probably never take me back and I know this/ Yeah, I know this, aw man/ I’m so desensitized to feeling these emotions.
But obviously the best ones are juggernaut masterpiece smash hits. And it’s also very revealing that all of his best songs are about drugs. “The Hills” somehow has a killer beat (with a sample, obviously, lifted from The Hills Have Eyes) and excellent lyrics: I only love it when you touch me, not feel me/ When I’m fucked up, that’s the real me. And if you haven’t heard my boy Max Martin’s ode to cocaine and Kid’s Choice Award nominee “Can’t Feel My Face.” I also enjoyed his duets with Ed Sheeran and Lana, “Dark Times” and “Prisoner,” both of which are squarely thematically centered on addiction themes.
It’s worth saying that the Weeknd’s voice is staggering. He sounds like MJ on “Losers,” and has an impossible vibrato on songs like “Shameless” and plenty of others. It’s also worth noting that my boyfriend loves the Weeknd. So what do I know? He’s a motherfucking starboy, after all.
