Music Reviews

First review of 2022 hooray!!

This album, at least for me, was a series of many red flags. First off all how it was announced basically like not even a year after After Hours, Abel’s last album and one of my personal favorites of that year, the really confusing almost non-existent roll-out to this album and, of course, the in my opinnion still not so great album cover, (which is me after waiting for this thing to drop since it’s been announced). Then the album actually came out and I gave it a full listen and… Well all my red flags proved to be right, or at least innitialy they were. I couldn’t remember a single note from this album besides „Take My Breath“, which I’ve already listened to death at that point and I was starting to get genuinely worried, because everyone LOVED this album when it dropped. I felt like I was going crazy – what does everyone see in this that I’m overlooking? It must be just me, right? So I decided to give it a few more shots and well, long story short, this album is amazing (that’s what I call character development right here). Speaking of character development, Abel REALLY build on the 80s inspired foundation he layed down on his last album and I feel like this album is him fully embracing it. It may not do as well commercially, but don’t let that stop you from how much this album actually bops.

You notice the tone shift instantly on the first actual song on this album „Gasoline“, where Abel, for the first I ever heard him do it like this, really explores the capabilities of his lower register voice. And admitedly it was a bit off-putting the first time I heard it, but there is honestly something really mezmerizing about it – it just clicks with you after a while for some reason. Also this is where you start to notice how rich and layered the production on this album is – the lush 80s synths with punchy crisp drums in the hands of some excelent producers make this a treat to listen to. „How Do I Make You Love Me?“ is honestly one of my favorite songs here, the chorus goes so hard it should actually be illegal – there is also this underlying feeling present throughout the entirety of the song that something just isn’t right. What definetly must be illegal though is the transition into „Take My Breath“, which is so good I still can’t proccess how excelently that is done. The song itself also took a new form on this album, clocking at around almost 6 minutes, almost double the length of the original single version and I gotta say, it really does the song justice, I’ll take this version over the original any day. If I had just 6 minutes left of my life… I probably wouldn’t listen to this song, but it’s still really good. Instead I would play the next song „Sacrifice“ two times, because that guitar thing that’s going throughout the entire track goes SO HARD IT DIDN’T HAVE TO GO SO HARD BUT IT DOES OH MY GOD IT’S SO GOOD. The Quincy Jones interlude „A Tale By Quincy“ is one of the better interludes I’ve heard in a while for sure and it ends on a really dark note aswell. „Out of Time“ is really uplifting instrumentally and yet so miserable lyrically, it just creates this contrast that I absolutely love. The flute or whatever it is that’s going on constantly in the background really makes this song work. „Here We Go… Again“ with Tyler is fitting title, because right as that first note hit I said to myself exactly that. The song has no drums and is all just vibes with a so so Tyler verse, which I still can’t help but enjoy, because you know, it’s Tyler. It kind of works as the halfway point of this album, almost making the album two parts. The next song „Best Friends“ I enjoy a lot, the abrasive synths and the earworm that is the chorus, this should be an instant favorite for me, right? Well I think the song is good, but it’s just missing that extra something to really make it GREAT. Still one of my favorites just because of the reasons stated above. Here I think the album start to lose it’s focus a bit, the next few tracks „Is There Someone Else?“ „Starry Eyes“ and „Every Angel is Terrifying“ just don’t really do it for me, they all just blend into one forgetable expirience and I usually tend to skip this section (I like to call it the „Yawn FM“) while listening to the album. „Don’t Break My Heart“ puts the album back on track with a really gentle beat, I really like how the hi-hats mix with the somewhat burried synths and Abel’s storytelling. I also especially enjoy the section in each chorus where he says „I don’t know if I can take it anymore“, something about the way he says that just gets me everytime. Overall just an okay song though. „I Heard You’re Married“ featuring Lil Wayne coincidently also has a really nice vocal line in the chorus and a pretty catchy beat, but that’s about it for what makes this song stand out – oh and Lil Wayne is here too. The true highlight of the album comes in the form of „Less Than Zero“ though, with the really quiet guitar playing, the excellent synths, the absolutely bombastic chorus and just the overall aesthethic, all the pieces are there and the whole picture is excellent. The outro song „Phantom Regret By Jim“ is basically just an interlude, but it surpasses many of the whole song on here. Really convinving performance from Jim and a compelling way to close off the album and tie the whole thing together.

So yeah, this album is pretty good – I think the middle second half is significantly less exciting than the first one, but it also has „Less Than Zero“ on it, so it ballances out. Overall a solid effort from The Weeknd, I don’t think it’s on the same level of enjoyability as After Hours for me though, where I grew to love really every track on there, but it’s a natural artistic progression for The Weeknd to continue this path of 80s anthems and if he continues to do them as succesfully as here, then I think he’ll be just fine off doing exactly that. So yeah, a pretty good start to 2022 music-wise.

Strong 7/10