★ The Weeknd ★ What You Need ★

the singles are definitely the best things on the album

that does not make me look forward to the album

just started it (for review purposes, i've been over the weeknd for a minute now tbh) and it opens with what is m/l a power ballad

this does not bode well

Interested to hear this. Curious to see how he balances his creepy, creepy persona with big pop ambitions. Does he tame it, or does he run with it?

track two all of a sudden becomes a very synthetic version of big bad voodoo daddy or some neo-swing/lounge shit, like...the moves he's making aside from doing "can't feel my face" don't make any logical sense

xp it's somewhat tamed. same basic vibe but not quite as egregiously gross...which might be worse?

oh yea if HoB is the best thing he's done (which i think it is) then full-on creeper is the best look for him prob

sad creeper that is

yea i still kinda like some house of balloons stuff, esp "the morning"

this is gonna sell a zillion copies bc of his preestablished fanbase but it's a mess 5 tracks in. it's fine for him to nakedly grab for pop stardom but to do so with a complete lack of sonic cohesion amounting in 2 ok singles and one pretty good one seems dumb as hell?

not to mention for a wannabe popstar his stage presence is absolutely nonexistent (feel like i've said that before, apologies if repeating self)

i'm curious to hear "In The Night" since that was the one in the NYT article that supposedly made his song publisher scream "IT'S BILLIE JEAN! IT'S BILLIE FUCKING JEAN!"

agreed xp, i will def rep for the morning. i still like house of balloons, the other two mixtapes aren't bad imo but HoB is def the best one

the "can't feel my face" video is so telling too! nobody except for maybe one person in the audience gives a shit that he is up there and i know that was intentional but it was such a weird effect since he is trying to give his all onstage

there's a talkbox guitar solo on one track, a track that already makes no sense for him bc its an...acoustic ballad

i hate this

i'm curious to hear "In The Night" since that was the one in the NYT article that supposedly made his song publisher scream "IT'S BILLIE JEAN! IT'S BILLIE FUCKING JEAN!"

― some dude, Friday, August 21, 2015 3:28 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it is just as MJ-aping as "can't feel my face," arguably more so, so...it's kinda decent? but these two tracks arent the norm really

This album is such a slog.

at one point on the song prod by kanye he sings "i'm never rocking white i'm like a racist" when......................

that song is amazing

im that nigga w the hair singin bout poppin pills fuckin bitches livin life so trill

if i had heard this album w/o knowing the narrative their pushing about this being his turn as POP STAR i wouldn't really have thought that much was different

yea def its not commercial at all

track two all of a sudden becomes a very synthetic version of big bad voodoo daddy or some neo-swing/lounge shit, like…

lol agree w/ this tho not a gl

shameless is good also

wow album is terrible

dunno whose idea this was but man alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuV_O1vaLVQ

lmao at dude on the floor sobbing

o my holy god

"someday my son you will be briefly noticed for being emotionally overwhelmed by lana del rey's guest verse and immortalized on film, how do u feel"

(tbf lana's verse is good, prisoner is a decent song)

can i post on this shitty m board again yet

lol no sry

only part of the way thru but so far this stuff doesn't sound much like his older stuff at all? you guys are weird

big bad voodoo daddy is a stretch imo...its a pop record

'in the night' is a lil more ... idk billy idol than michael jackson but its good

there's def an element of teenager putting on dad's clothes about it though.

this is def a corporate pop record in all its roided out glory, for good & ill, but its such a vast improvement over weeknd's usual schtick i'm probably overrating it to a degree. still, about what i expected

idk deej this is pretty dull

think the biggest issue is that dude needs to pick a style and his throwing shit at the wall approach is a transparent tailspin and not in an interesting way. the MJ ripoffs work, the old weeknd schtick (for better or worse) works for what he seems to want to portray himself as (a douchebag) but like, power ballads? acoustic slow jams? ed sheeran features? that's not iiiiiiiit

I mean w/e though if I want to listen to a dude whose sadness and anger are tailspinning into (and amplifying pre-existing) misogyny set to music that's actually interesting I'll just put monster or beastmode or 56 nights o ds2 on again for the 9,000th time this week/month

*or

good to see you again deej btw

idk if i'd classify "real life" as a power ballad

my main issue with this record and him in general forever i guess is that he seems barely engaged with anything musical going on around his voice

like some of the textures on this record are really pretty and interesting but the singer they revolve around is so inert and detached and capable of like three toplines

there's a talkbox guitar solo on one track, a track that already makes no sense for him bc its an...acoustic ballad

i hate this

best part of the record imo

this isn't as good as it could have been /was suggested by 'cant feel my face' but

there are easy 4-5 songs i f/w and that could grow to more depending on how present that is in the culture imo

songs that are, off the bat, great: the three singles, + 'tell your friends' and 'as you are'

i'm undecided but leaning towards posi on 'in the night' ... sounds like a forgotten '80s pop record by a band that you don't really think is that good and then you hear it on the radio & ur like, oh yeah this was cool.

softening on the opening track, 'acquainted' and 'shameless' don't have a problem with ballads if well-written .... 'dark times' and 'angel' are uphill for me tbh...undecided on 'prisoner' and 'losers'

like some of the textures on this record are really pretty and interesting but the singer they revolve around is so inert and detached and capable of like three toplines

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, August 23, 2015 1:01 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dont think he's the one who wrote any of these toplines!

but yeah this is what i mean by saying it sounds like he's trying on his dad's suits to see how they fit...there's a little bit of seams showing in his sell-out moves here. can't tell if i'm noticing bc 'that's the narrative' or if its bc he's just 'not that talented' but either way this is the best of his releases imo

nb ive been a day-1 hater so grain of salt

there is something so grammy thirsty about this tho lol

i mean that in the way that the grammys actually work, not the way we wish they did / think the should

pressed play and smhd within 30 seconds at strawberry letter 23 interpolation. i cba with this album

i dont think he's the one who wrote any of these toplines!

meant more like..... vocally and emotionally capable

i dont think he's the one who wrote any of these toplines!

― mods = chickenshit idiots (D-40), Sunday, August 23, 2015 5:52 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

got proof for that or are you just vaguely insinuating he has a ghostwriter, because based on the credits and on interviews ("When he saw the lyrics that were sent to him, he found them to be tepid. He rewrote his verse, recorded it and sent it back." -- nyt) he did

No proof except that this album clearly had cowriters

And lyrics are not the same as top line melodies ! I have no problem believing he wrote his own lyrics