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Thread: The Weeknd

  1. #31
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    have seen Abel twice in the last month. Once as he closed out ACL Sunday 10/11 and tonight at the Prudential Center. Dude has come to dominate the world with this new Max Martin backed record. Funny to see the progression in this thread.

    As far as his stage setup & lighting....let's say yet another artist owes a huge debt to Trent & Moment Factory's ideas from 2007-08 through 2013. Funny how many artists have been ripping them off since for their groundbreaking visuals.

    He was great both times I saw him. I feel lucky to see a pop/R&B artist at the height of his vocal abilities since I rarely catch this kinda stuff live. Dude's voice is so, so perfect at this point.

    Interesting backstory on the making of this record....

    Jon Caramanica profiled the once-reclusive The Weeknd for the New York Times, an unlikely fate for a guy who once released music anonymously online, but a completely natural fate for a singer who has collaborated with Ariana Grande and performed with Taylor Swift.And while the story fills in some of the details of Abel Tesfaye’s foggy backstory, some of the most interesting revelations deal with his new collaborations with Max Martin. It all started when he linked up with the Swedish super-producer on Grande’s “Love Me Harder,” which led Tesfaye to tell his label to get him more work with Martin.
    “If I’m gonna be the biggest in the world,’’ he told Republic’s urban A&R head, “I need a handful of songs like that.”
    But like nearly everything regarding The Weeknd’s path, Tesfaye would only work with Martin on his own terms. According to the piece, Martin’s team “typically solicits little creative input from the talent,” but Tesfaye right away rewrote the “Love Me Harder” verse given to him, and Martin liked the rewrite. And when Tesfaye hunkered down with Martin last fall, he swiftly rejected all of the material Martin’s crew had prewritten for him. So they started working on completely new songs together, and the first result was “In The Night,” which will appear on Beauty Behind The Madness. Like the album’s lead single “Can’t Feel My Face,” it’s said to tap into Tesfaye’s Michael Jackson fixation.
    While the feature doesn’t specify whether more Martin-assisted tracks will appear on the album, which is out August 28, it certainly implies Martin had more than a two-song role and was one of the guiding forces of the project.
    posted a bunch of clips to my IG...add me..."bronxtalebliss"

    setlist for the arena tour:



    1. Real Life
    2. Losers
    3. Acquainted
    4. Often
    5. High For This
    6. The Party & The After Party
    7. King Of The Fall / Crew Love / Or Nah / Professional
    8. The Morning
    9. House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls
    10. Tell Your Friends
    11. The Birds, Part 1
    12. Shameless
    13. Earned It
    14. Dark Times
    15. As You Are
    16. Angel
    17. D.D. / In The Night
    18. Can't Feel My Face
    19. Prisoner
    20. The Hills
    21. Encore- Wicked Games
    Last edited by bobbie solo; 11-12-2015 at 01:54 AM.

  2. #32
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    I'll be seeing him next Thursday at Barclays. Very excited!

  3. #33
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    Man, I really fucking hope he goes out on a second leg next year and FINALLY comes to Kansas City. That sequence of DD-->In The Night --> Can't Feel My Face must be a total blast during his set.

  4. #34
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    "Acquainted" is an epic lust song.

  5. #35
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    I could listen to this stretch of songs over and over:

    Tell Your Friends
    Often
    The Hills
    Acquainted

  6. #36
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    Went to the show last night... Can't even express how fucking awesome that was.

    Here are my random, disjointed thoughts.

    Considering where he was a few years ago, to now being one of the biggest pop stars in the world, is quite a rise.

    He's also *so* young.

    The live band just adds everything. It is only a three piece, but they are great.

    The stage show is unlike anything that I've seen... And I hit up Tension twice. I thought it was going to be many years before I saw anything that topped the Tension experience. Nope.

    His voice is just so pitch perfect that it is crazy. It also just seems completely effortless for him. Like he just opens his fucking mouth, and those incredible sounds just flow right out.

    He's really becoming quite the showman.

    I really hope that he doesn't self destruct.

  7. #37
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    This song is really good other than the fact that it's Future's song, and that Future is "rapping" on it. Weeknd & the beat are dope as usual though.


  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarah K View Post
    His voice is just so pitch perfect that it is crazy. It also just seems completely effortless for him. Like he just opens his fucking mouth, and those incredible sounds just flow right out.
    that's why i really don't understand his use of auto-tune. people who can sing should not go anywhere near that shit. i'm glad it's much less prevalent on his newest album (which is sexy as hell).

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    that's why i really don't understand his use of auto-tune. people who can sing should not go anywhere near that shit. i'm glad it's much less prevalent on his newest album (which is sexy as hell).
    I don't think it's so much used out of necessity as it is just because that particular sound is now kinda sinonymous with that genre.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by richardp View Post
    I don't think it's so much used out of necessity as it is just because that particular sound is now kinda sinonymous with that genre.
    which sucks, haha. regardless of singing ability, i hate the artifacting (?) that auto-tune causes, even when it's subtle. it's such an irritating sound.

  11. #41
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    I just assume that the vast, vast majority of artists use it in some capacity. I think it is used more often than not.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    which sucks, haha. regardless of singing ability, i hate the artifacting (?) that auto-tune causes, even when it's subtle. it's such an irritating sound.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sarah K View Post
    I just assume that the vast, vast majority of artists use it in some capacity. I think it is used more often than not.
    “Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”
    - Brian Eno

  13. #43
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    Album title/cover revealed today! Pretty quick turnaround.

  14. #44
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    new single Star Boy produced by Daft Punk is bananas. PM me for a d/l link, b/c everything on youtube I can find atm is fake.

    Uncovered this little gem though. Seems like it was quietly released a few weeks ago. Def. back to his more experimental earlier ish.



    And did we ever discuss this gem from last year? My favorite song on their album for sure. Here's the VIP mix which is even more dancey.



    Catching him next Saturday in Queens at some new bullshit festival "The Meadows". And he'll be on SNL that same night.

  15. #45
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    This album is quite the letdown. And not just coming from ...Madness.

    Weak. Maybe 5 good or decent songs? Otherwise it's like...sing the song title over a weak retro backdrop chorus and other forgettable shit. Goddamn yawns and tears.

    At least I know deadmau5' album will perform a fatality on the year.
    Last edited by Amaro; 11-25-2016 at 01:39 PM.

  16. #46
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    Agreed. I am on my second listen right now. A few songs are good. But not much sticks out.

    Though yeah, compared to the last album... Gonna be hard to live up to that.

  17. #47
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    I don't know what you guys are talking about. This is like Trilogy and BBTM had a poppy, sexy baby and shoved itself into my skull. I love it. Best production on any of his records so far, perfect blend of his darker style with a digestible package that slips a lot past the beats, really enjoyable as hell to listen to. This is way, way better than I was expecting it to be.

    Rockin' feels like MJ and Prince had a kid. This whole record is dripping with 80's retro style and flair and I adore that kind of music, so to hear it taken to this high-level, professional-as-hell mixing and writing is amazing. The flow between songs is genuinely fantastic -- Rockin' into Secrets? That's amazing.

  18. #48
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    I can't get Starboy out of my head. Those Daft Punk drums in the chorus get me. Sidewalks is also great...haven't listened to much else yet.

  19. #49
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    Oh, and, fuck -- Stargirl's only problem is that it's not twice as long.

    Kendrick on Sidewalks delivers hard and the overall song is wonderful; Six Feet Under has a bass that makes my guts rattle; Love to Lay's percussion is lovely, it reveals a sensitive side to Abel often not there in his more bravado-based singles, the production on it slaps and his vocals are as smooth as ever here; Nothing Without You quotes Kanye's FML and is fucking gorgeous. Die For You is beautiful.

    This feels like an album that anyone can find something to latch onto and way more of an "album listen" than Madness ever was. The best of Madness was amazing but it seemed really messy and hard to treat as the kind of thing you'd go through all in one sitting; Starboy seems to lend itself to being played as one full thing despite having tons of single-worthy songs that will kill on their own.

    I love this record. Like, really love it. I think it's some of his best yet. I have got to see this shit done live.

  20. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by kleiner352 View Post
    Oh, and, fuck -- Stargirl's only problem is that it's not twice as long.
    THIS times a million. Lana's voice just has this ethereal, haunting quality that makes me wish it were 4-5 minutes long rather than ~2. So glad I got presales for the show next year.

  21. #51
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    Giving it another listen while at work and less distracted.

    I can't express how much I hate False Alarm.

  22. #52
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    I'd be 100% open to an Abel/Lana collab album and I have never been a fan of collab albums.

    @Sarah K I really hope you end up enjoying it more; I'm really all about it at the moment. I like False Alarm a lot, but feel like all the reasons I do are also valid reasons a fan of his work might not. This album sounds to me like everything he's ever been good at or capable of taken to their max and blended better than ever.

  23. #53
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    It's not a bad album, at all. Much like every other album coming out lately in Hip Hop/R&B, it's just too long. Too many songs that are good, but could be better suited tacked on as Bonus Tracks at the end of the "Deluxe" Edition or something.

    But with that said, I still quite enjoy it. "Secrets" is far and away my favorite track.

  24. #54
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    LIKE
    -Starboy
    -Party Monster
    -Reminder
    -True Colors*
    -Stargirl*
    -Sidewalks*
    -Six Feet Under*
    -All I Know
    -Die for You

    MEH
    (I won't skip them, but I won't intentionally seek them out)
    -Rockin'
    -Love to Lay
    -Attention
    -Ordinary Life
    -Nothing Without You

    DISLIKE
    -False Alarm
    -Secrets
    -A Lonely Night
    -Feel It Coming

    *This block of four songs is the strongest part of the album, for me.

  25. #55
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    This album feels like something the music industry wanted him to make, as opposed to something he genuinely wanted to make. Half of the tracks on here would be better served on a Carly Rae Jepsen album (or an 80’s Lionel Ritchie album destined for the bargain bin at a used record store.) Lots of four minute songs with nice hooks, but no real personality. A lot of artists can pull off an album like this with ease, which is something that couldn’t be said about his earlier work.

    Beauty Behind the Madness was good pop music for the masses that stayed true to his original style. His two hit singles were about a damaged stripper and his love for cocaine; he was feeding the radio, but with a sly wink and a nod to his fanbase along the way. Starboy, on the other hand, seems dead-set on capitalizing on last years commercial success in the most cookie-cutter way possible.

  26. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Presideo View Post
    Half of the tracks on here would be better served on a Carly Rae Jepsen album (or an 80’s Lionel Ritchie album destined for the bargain bin at a used record store.)
    that shade! i LOVE carly so i guess i'll like this album a lot ;p

  27. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    that shade! i LOVE carly so i guess i'll like this album a lot ;p
    I like her, too - E•MO•TION was one of my favorite albums of '15! However, I expect The Weeknd to make better/different music than Jepsen b-side material.

    Seriously, Starboy tracks like Rockin, Secrets, True Colors, Love To Lay, A Lonely Night, Attention, Nothing Without You, Die For You, and I Feel It Coming could all easily fit on E•MO•TION's Side B EP (Secrets, Die For You, and I Feel It Coming might even be good enough to make the actual album)
    Last edited by Presideo; 12-02-2016 at 01:17 PM.

  28. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by Presideo View Post
    His two hit singles were about a damaged stripper and his love for cocaine; he was feeding the radio, but with a sly wink and a nod to his fanbase along the way. Starboy, on the other hand, seems dead-set on capitalizing on last years commercial success in the most cookie-cutter way possible.
    I mean, hey, here you've got him singing about cumming while he dies and referencing David Caradine, talking about mixing liquor with Adderall and bragging about getting a teen choice award for a song where someone's face goes numb off a bag of blow -- there's still plenty of his darker, non-radio-friendly lines here, some of them among his best over the years.

    This album seems a whole lot more like his own vision than Madness did. Madness felt like him trying hard to be the biggest guy in the world, and now that he's done that, he's finding a way of blurring the lines between his older, darker stuff and the poppier side of the equation. The guy is dancing around covered in blood to Daft Punk at this point.

    It's just funny to me that a lot of people that dislike this seem to take issue with it for the reasons I didn't like Madness as an album. Odd stuff.

  29. #59
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    Quality, Diggin'
    Starboy
    Party Monster (props)
    Reminder
    True Colors
    Stargirl
    Sidewalks
    Attention
    Nothing Without You
    All I Know
    I Feel It Coming

    Good Riddance, Gone and Forgotten
    False Alarm
    Rockin'
    Secrets
    Six Feet Under
    Love To Lay
    A Lonely Night
    Ordinary Life
    Die For You

    This album has too much "Earned It" and "In The Night" essence laced throughout, which were far and wide the shittiest part of ...Madness. It's hard to explain, but there's a severe lacking of what makes TW highly listenable for me.

    Like...I GET YOU TOUCHIN' ON YOUR BODY. Dude, how you make that sound the way you do... It still kills, because the sound is mad epic. (That whole fucking song though.)

    Starboy could've been sized down majorly and it wouldn't be such an upset, though all of the good shit still wouldn't make for a great record for me.

    Since Carly has come up here (haha), for the record I fucking love her/her music.
    Last edited by Amaro; 02-18-2017 at 07:14 PM.

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