★ The Weeknd ★ What You Need ★

ok it's righted again with "rockin'" which i assume is the track josh thinks sounds like luomo

thing is now that *everything* in pop sounds exactly like this the weeknd has lost his one selling point*

* for me, I suspect for much of his fanbase the selling point is that here's a guy who proudly admits he's an asshole through which they can vicariously be an asshole. or teen choice award voters, I guess? (I doubt they're mutually exclusive, too)

worst non-lo mein lyric on this album is "david carradine / i'm gonna die when i cum"

lol

who's not an asshole these days I wonder.

you either live long enough to be the villain or you're bruno mars

* for me, I suspect for much of his fanbase the selling point is that here's a guy who proudly admits he's an asshole through which they can vicariously be an asshole.

I think this was a big part of his initial appeal. Now I think the appeal is mostly that his last LP had some legit jams on it, though, right?

maybe true for "Can't Feel My Face" where you could swap with any Max Martin track but it's the only explanation I can think of for "The Hills"

(speaking of, "False Alarm" was a standout until I realized its gimmick was the exact gimmick in that single)

it works really well for me when the chorus sounds stolen from a lost bad rabbits song

ok I'm listening to the Bad Rabbits album now and WHAT IS THIS

lol that's a derail, maybe i'll start a thread about it even though i imagine most people will think it is Bad

halfway through the opening track I was surprised you hadn't already!

Ridiculous Tears For Fears sample on 'Secrets'.

'Rockin' could've easily been on that second Disclosure album.

star boy
reminder
rockin
secrets
true colors
love to lay
lonely night
ordinary life
nothing without you
die for you
i feel it coming

this would be a good album

the inherent absurdity of the weeknd is p much summed up by him thinking "i'm a muhfuckin' starboy" is a macho thing to say (also, yknow, all his other problems everyone has noted for the past 6 years)

song ain't bad tho, havent tried the album

Dud

I don't like what he does in general (save for some productions/collabs with other artists which are ok) and this album seems pretty bad/boring (and much too long !) after the first few times.
but I have to admit I REALLY like "I Feel It Coming". My favourite thing he's ever been involved with by very far !

Secrets is his best track since the first mixtape IMO, or at least the first of his 'Weeknd Goes Pop' tracks that i've really liked.

xp man, I really don't give a hoot about the Weeknd and really didn't like 'Starboy' but 'I Feel It Coming' is so lovely. Yeah, it's Michael Jackson sings 'Get Lucky' but that's not a problem really.

I love how committed Daft Punk have been to getting songs that sound like Imagination onto top 40 radio

a two month crosspost

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/upshot/music-fandom-maps.html

anything stand out to anyone about this map

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni41PhM0df4

sick

that Sir Duke melody

thats the most trad R&B thing hes done ha

yeah i really like that

i don't know if ilm is ready to acknowledge how good "blinding lights" is

Sounds good, but gonna be a cranky old man about the blood & bandage look/marketing brand thing. Seems dumb to me

there's some really good stuff on the new album and the production is impeccable

all the 80s pastiche with perfect sound design ends up sounding very much like the last two 1975 albums lol

only oneohtrix point never to make me listen to the weeknd.
just heard the three songs they've made together and although it's visible 0pn's hand, I just can't stand Abel's voice and his performing approach, I'm sorry.

my favourites on here so far are "too late", "hardest to love" and "in your eyes"

gave it a listen. it's not a great album.

as a generally-cohesive showcase of an ~aesthetic~ it (mostly) works. the production is thoughtful + intricate throughout, even deeply compelling in particular moments. but despite him being a competent/occasionally impressive singer, his delivery seldom compels me to pay any note to the songs' lyrical content -- and when it does register, it's usually because it's so bad that it's impossible not to notice. i don't feel anything he's supposedly feeling.

"heartless," the very safe single which deliberately revisits his own very well-trodden territory, had started to grow on me slightly as a radio hit, but here it feels entirely out of place and nearly kills the mood set by the preceding tracks. definitely a dud.

there are good songs, including his current pop smash, which might be the best. overall the album's an interesting rendition of pop's resurgent nostalgia for a decades-old vision of a soon-approaching future*. but it seldom gives anything beyond that.

(* cf dua lipa's upcoming + appropriately titled album, which i have not heard yet but suspect could well be better than this)

a video has been put out for what i guess is the next single "in your eyes" -- starts with an unsurprising but nonetheless contemptible fixation on a woman's fear as she's stalked and threatened by abel's character, then i guess tries to subvert it by allowing her to decapitate him in self-defense. groundbreaking.

I, personally, am very fascinated by how repellent people find The Weeknd and would love to see a deeper dive into how race informs his goth horror aesthetic and the reactions to it.

Haven't seen the video, so can't comment, but I would also like to read such an examination.

The album sounds fantastic, but his vocals (which I have generally liked) are kinda weak and inexpressive on a lot of the songs. The songs themselves are maybe too uniform, but the highlights--"Blinding Lights," "Save Your Tears"--are strong.

Does he choose who remixes his material? Chromatics, OPN, The Blaze as remixers is a great combo. Not sure how much their music aligns with The Weeknd fans, and still haven’t heard the remixes but it definitely piques my interest.

Ok, The Chromatics remix is cool. It’s curious to hear the contrast of the underground sensibility of Chromatics vs The Weekend’s mainstream approach. I don’t think it works 100%, but there’s potential in there. An original feature and production credits a la Daft Punk would have been more interesting than a remix.

I think his singing is across-the-board weaker on this but the songs themselves are across-the-board better

There’s a “The” Blaze now?

They're really good and have dope music videos.

don't recall if i've heard much else but "virile" is a classic for me

The half time show was actually really good.

The mixing was off in the first 3/4 songs - which is business as usual in the halftime show - his vocals were very low, but it sounded good after the song with violins.

The set production was outstanding. Even if you don't care about the halftime show's music, it's always impressive to see these massive logistics and production in action and this might be the most impressive set production so far.

Would have loved to see Daft Punk in there, but I kinda liked that there were no guest artists.

i thought that was a great halftime show, even with the vocals being mixed too low at first. I have to say I completely forgot about the Weeknd's back catalog, this thread is a trip, you'd never think that guy would wind up doing the superbowl halftime show.

Not only did he did he do the halftime show, he also walked more yards than KC.

oh fuck I ruined my joke by writing that all wrong.

not only did he do the halftime show, he also walked more yards than KC

there...