Photo: Kevin Winter (Getty Images)
Although he is only 27, The Weeknd has quite a discography behind him. He began his music career in 2010 when he posted three of his songs on YouTube and achieved worldwide fame. One important contributing factor was the singer Drake, who noticed his songs and shed some public light on him. Since then, The Weeknd has released three self-produced mixtapes, all working under the title Trilogy, as well as three proper studio albums with various guest appearances. The Weeknd’s new album Starboy was released in September 2016, but how does it compare to some of his older stuff?
The Trilogy
Before entering the studio in 2013 for his first full, official album, The Weeknd mostly made mixtapes and published singles. His first-ever mixtape was called House of Balloons and was released in 2011. The music critics loved the mixtape and especially praised The Weeknd’s ability to add variety to his singing style. He could be both emotional and soft-spoken at one end as well as rigid and aggressive on the other. After the House of Balloons came the second mixtape called Thursday. Although not as universally acclaimed as the first one, Thursday was still a great album that gave the fans some more of the rugged Toronto-Ethiopia mix they were used to. The third mixtape, called Echoes of Silence, was yet again praised by the critics for its trippy minimalism and constantly improving songwriting. In 2012, The Weeknd released remastered versions of the songs from all three mixtapes and released what he called The Trilogy. Looking back upon it, The Weeknd stated they all felt somewhat claustrophobic because he’d never been outside Toronto at the time.
Kiss Land
His first proper album came out in 2013 under the name of Kiss Land. Apparently, The Weeknd just overheard this phrase somewhere and thought it was a good name for an album. Kiss Land signifies an important change in his life and is, therefore, in a clash with the Trilogy. While the Trilogy was a bit reclusive and closed, the Kiss Land is open and exploratory. However, all of that openness induced fear in The Weeknd, which is why it’s a prevalent emotion on the album. The fear he’s talking about refers especially to his lifestyle changes and the fact that he got to explore the parts of the world he never did. Some critics described the album as a horror show basically.
Beauty Behind the Madness
His second studio album was released in 2015 and, according to the critics, really showed off The Weeknd’s versatility. While some of the more popular singles of it are basically pop, the rest of the album has some rather complex melodies and time stamps, which show that he’s quite a capable musician. The two of its most famous singles were “The Hills” and “Can’t Feel My Face,” both of which peaked at number one in Billboard’s top 100. The song “Earned It” from the album was featured in the somewhat controversial movie 50 Shades of Grey and was nominated for an Academy Award. The album also featured some notable guest appearances like the Kanye West and Ed Sheeran.
Starboy
The Weeknd’s new album called Starboy was released in November 2016. This third chapter of The Weeknd’s musical voyage relies on the concept of braggadocio where rappers (like 50 Cent and the Wu-Tang Clan) brag in their songs about how much money they have and how they’ve succeeded in life. In a way, the album works off all of the other praises The Weeknd received during his career. He knows he is adored by the critics and further continues to present himself in the brightest light possible, becoming a “Starboy” (which is a tribute to the late David Bowie and his Starman). The title track features the famous electro duo Daft Punk and discusses all the effects of fame on an artist since he, undoubtedly, achieved it. The second track on the album, Party Monster, features yet another popular singer, Lana Del Rey on the backing vocals duty. Two other tracks worth mentioning are “I Feel It Coming” and “Rockin'” and both of them are described in the similar fashion as being disco and workout songs, respectively.
The Weeknd’s new album Starboy is probably a bit more self-centered than the previous ones, but The Weeknd at least manages to remain honest and true with his fans, which is what counts ultimately.
