4/5
Living For The Weeknd
New Music Friday, Saturday and Sunday sees the return of The Weeknd, tuning in for the first time since 2022's 'Dawn FM' with guest host, smokin' actor Jim Carrey. A 24-carat Kobe number of tracks (if you count the '00XO' bonuses of 'Runaway' and 'Society') for the first major mainstream album of 2025, the year of the snake. All in the same month he once dominated at the Superbowl half-time show, with no half measures like a Prince. Showcasing the same album that began this trilogy ('After Hours'), and single-handedly saved the entertainment industry from COVID-19 a year prior. Right before Kendrick Lamar proves once again he's 'Not Like Us', as he looks to Beyoncé Bowl this year's NFL mid-game entertainment section, finishing his touchdown play on Abel Tesfaye's old friend Drake.
'Hurry Up Tomorrow'. That's what fans have been hollering for years, waiting for The Weeknd like a viral Daniel Craig SNL introduction meme on that show's 40th anniversary. Well, back with what would have been a double album in the pre-Spotify age, and all eyez on he, Tesfaye is able to keep it going until the sweat drips off of his head like the accented album artwork that everybody thought would primarily be the above photo (until The Internet and eggplant shadows had its fun with it). It still is one of them, mind you. In those eyes that are the soul, like MC Lyte once rapped to us, the 'Can't Feel My Face' singer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AKA The 6 and "We The North", STAND UP!), gets compelling in a Conway, Los Angeles, California studio. Not to mention, cinematic, with uncredited choice cameos from Annita (on the second single 'São Paulo'), Playboy Carti ('Timeless'), Travis Scott ('Reflections Laughing'), Future ('Enjoy The Show', 'Given Up On Me') and frequent flyer by the Hollywood sign Lana Del Rey down in 'The Abyss'. In addition to production from Metro Boomin ('Cry For Me', 'Given Up On Me'), Max Martin ('Open Hearts') and a 'Timeless' Pharrell Williams, this side of Neptune.
Even the late, great David Lynch gets sampled in on the title-track, curtain closer, just a week after his death. And this epic album really is an event like 'Twin Peaks' (I promise, I'll watch it, Chris) from the 'Wake Me Up' introduction like a splash of nightclub bathroom water on the face to the damn good coffee music 'Baptized In Fear', 'Until We're Skin & Bones'. Even the track titles sound like albums ('Enjoy The Show', 'Opening Night'), or best pictures ('Drive', 'Red Terror' (copyright it now). But it's the singles ('Timeless' and 'São Paulo') that really show you this Idol is back from the critical panning brink and ready to return to the arena he best fits in, with this 80 minute plus theatre of his mind. "Oh, city on fire when I'm comin' home/Fill up the sky (yeah), I fill up the Dome/They'll play it one day (yeah), it's a hell of a show/But it's gonna hurt 'cause we did it first." Gothic and operatic, this could be the "last hurrah' for Abel as The Weeknd. But 'Give Me Mercy', if this really is the 'Big Sleep'. Because, like he says on 'Without A Warning', "hope you'll love me 'til my final day/Even if it was in vain/Leave my guts all on the stage."
Declaring like Dylan, 'I Can't F#####g Sing', from a complete unknown to pop's Prince, with a 'Purple Rain' harking closer, The Weeknd is still one of the biggest star boys on the planet with his name in La La Land lights that blind. Out of the darkness and beauty's madness he weaves even more tales and odes to the city ('Take Me Back To LA' too), and landmarks and loves of his life, wetter than 'Niagara Falls'. Sampling Nina Simone's 'Wild Is The Wind' and throwing anything but caution to it, the man in the red suit and bloody Band-Aid's still rides through the night, right through to the dawn. From the first, eleven-track pressing, to the movie to come (May 16th), it's clear this Weeknd will last all year, no weak day. Let alone a morning after hangover. A psychological thriller from XO and Republic Records, 'I Can't Wait To Get There' like the song says, "Dear summer, we've been runnin' the numbers/We just shy off a billi’, sold my crib to Madonna." A terrific Holy Trinity of a 'Trilogy' like the remasters of the massive mixtapes 'House of Balloons', 'Thursday', and 'Echoes of Silence'. All before the real name, no gimmicks, like Obie Trice comes into play for an artist who has fictionally shot himself on stage, like Eminem. The Weeknd show is over, but no need to hurry up. We're living in tomorrow now. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'São Paulo', 'Niagara Falls', 'Take Me Back To LA'.
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