The Insane True Story of The Weeknd

having just hit 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify the first person to ever do so the weekend very well may be the most popular artist in the world [Music] I think it would be fair to say he is the biggest pop star of the 21st century so far but despite his mind-blowing level of Fame he's still the same artist he always was and wow has he made some good music over the years in a career that's barely a decade long the weekend is already one of the world's best-selling artists with 75 million albums sold worldwide billions on billions of streams and some of the biggest tours and singles of any artist living today [Music] this way but even in a career full of number one pop hits he still has a completely unique artistic Vision not just sonically but visually as well because the weekend is more than a pop star he's a creative genius playing a character and creating a world that represents the darkest and most bizarre corners of his mind he makes his dark surrealist imagery with seductive vocals with soaring pop Melodies and Sonic Landscapes that range from gritty Indie instrumentals with a cult following to glossy 80s inspired dance pop that stands as some of the most streamed music ever made but despite reaching these highest Heights any artist could ever dream of he's never stopped growing and refining his vision as he gets more popular but how did he get here was the weekend destined for success or did he have to fight through dark and humble beginnings to get where he is today let's get into it this is the story of the weekend if you're interested in more of my Creations I just launched a series of pendants that I designed from scratch each necklace is made of full 925 sterling silver with hand-painted enamel in the design of the sun rising over a night full of silver stars I made the necklaces to be a reminder that whatever your goal is whoever you are the only way to reach what you want is to just keep going whatever kind of success you're chasing persistence and belief is the key because there cannot be any light without dark there cannot be any success without struggling first if you want to support my work and buy a necklace feel free to pick one up at the link below so go to volksgeist.store to buy a necklace now and get free shipping in the US Abel tesfaye was born in the winter of 1990 in Toronto Canada the only child of two Ethiopian immigrants but when he was two years old his father left the family to move to the U.S by the time Abel turned 12 his father was completely out of his life with a new family and kids and he wouldn't see him for at least another 50 years when talking about his father Abel later said that he wasn't mean and he wasn't abusive he was fine he just wasn't there being raised by his busy working-class mother and grandmother Abel didn't have a lot of guidance in his early life and he's talked many times about how he was smoking weed drinking and taking Xanax and ketamine by the time he was in Middle School at the age of 17 he dropped out of high school and moved from the more suburban area of Scarborough to Parkdale a neighborhood in Toronto with two of his friends including Lamar Taylor who would later become the full-time creative director for the weekend and while his venture out into the world would later prove to be the jump he needed to become the artist he is now overcoming the darkness he fell into within Toronto's underbelly was also his greatest challenge as he almost fell into its void forever from around age 17 to 21 Abel was sometimes Homeless was put in jail more than once and he also developed a severe dependency on hard drugs while partying in Toronto while these were clearly Dark Times to me they also make Abel's inspiration clear and authentic in a way that many other artists could never claim to be unlike some artists who say they came from nothing but in reality they grew up in the suburbs Abel actually comes from nothing and we can see that his artistic affinity for Darkness draws from his first hand experience of being at the bottom of his life living a nocturnal lifestyle in Toronto fueled by drugs and partying he's talked about working in clothing stores by day and riding city buses all night with nowhere to sleep he was a loner with no money and he had only two things to keep him away from the absolute depths of Despair drugs and music he would later name himself the weekend after this time in his life when he dropped out of school took his mattress and quote left one weekend and never went back home while he floated around Toronto as a teenager he began to develop a vision for what he wanted his music to sound like he was discovering the true extent of his musical talent and beginning to create songs that would later change his life singing in the dead of night in front of his friends in the freezing streets of Toronto [Applause] [Music] listen Joey Styles killed a big inspiration right here baby you already know what it is he's gonna blow we're all family The Story Goes that he worked at a clothing store during the day and would spend his nights without sleeping wandering the streets of Toronto by himself from sleeping on people's couches and having no stability to singing on the bus Abel was ready to risk it all to make his dreams come true what he didn't know is that he was about to change the sound of RnB forever Abel had a few projects early on before he discovered the identity that would take him to the Moon he was making music with people all over Toronto and building a reputation for being an amazingly talented singer around 2010 he met the producer Jeremy Rose who helped him craft three extremely important songs the weekend probably never would have taken off without these tracks what you need Loft Music in the morning remain Infamous to this day for their sultry Darkness at the time the weekend was nothing just a name with no backing behind it besides the people Abel knew around Toronto but the story goes that Drake's manager Oliver L khatib got wind of the drop through his Connections in the local scene he showed the tracks to Drake which quickly led to a blog post of endorsement on the OVO blog in December of 2010 the first sign that the weekend had the potential to be something big but at the same time no one knew who he was at all he wasn't just mysterious he was Anonymous no one even knew if the weekend was a singer or a band let alone what he looked like or what his name was and that only helped build hype not only were his songs completely unexpected in sound in style but he himself was a total Enigma which only helped build his dark and Moody aesthetic House of balloons was the first weekend project it dropped out of nowhere in March of 2011 and he quickly followed up that mixtape with two more in the same year Thursday at Echoes of Silence these mixtapes form the trilogy series and I think they comprise the strongest debut of any artist in recent memory you don't know what's inside [Music] close your eyes often being described as haunted strip club soundtracks a moody emotional mix of Indie and R B sounds the maniacal energy of the two-part Track House of balloons glass table girls reflects the energy and the ethos of the weekend in his early days both lyrically and musically an overwhelming maximalist grimy explosion of sounds as Abel sings of depravity and Drug adult seduction [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the song Midway through switches and becomes more subdued representing the crash once the high wears off Abel drops his crooning vocals for a menacing raspy voice as he wraps in detail about his debauchery I think this reveals a lot of the weekend's appeal early on his stories were ridiculous explicit and most importantly toxic he was a very self-aware artist depicting his world exactly the way it was darkness and toxicity included his stories felt too specific and raw to not be real of course it's not like he invented r b these themes have been around music for a long time what he did do was pair that dark sound with an indie style inspired by legendary bands like the XX and the cocktoo twins creating a fusion and aesthetic that was previously all together unheard of it's easy to look at the weekend now and think of his commercial success as being almost guaranteed from start but it's not quite that simple when House of balloons dropped there was a shroud of mystery between the weekend and the media he was a singer with a haunting Michael jackson-esque falsetto singing about drugs and sex in almost scandalous ways but with no interviews or photos some early reviews even refer to the weekend as a band not just an artist simply because no one knew what it was in our contemporary social media-based culture anonymity can hold artists back young artists are expected to maintain a constant presence with the posting schedule executing artificially generated controversy if they have any hopes of making it Big Abel who grew up as a shy secretive person preferred anonymity in silence he rejected the pressure to speak outside of the music by being himself and shunning attention the secrecy somehow worked in his favor he created an exclusive in the know Persona that elevated his reputation to be perceived as classy mysterious and provocative the mystery behind the project created more and more hype as fan fans tried to decode and decipher who the artist really was he immediately became Somebody by virtue of being nobody the weekend represented mystery and secrecy and people loved it the level of influence at the weekend immediately spread throughout the music industry can't be ignored even in the first few years of his career before he had any real mainstream notoriety he was inspiring tons of artists who would later go on to create their own careers with the recipe combining dark r b with Indie instrumentals and Moody vocals dark atmospheric alternative r b became a huge force in the industry thanks to the weekend and able did open the door for many different artists like Brent fayaz party next door Division divion and even Drake who contracted Abel to help write and feature throughout his career defining album take care just a few months after House of balloons was first released Abel created a new sound for RnB that was quickly and widely embraced soft and emotional but toxic at the same time the first official weekend album was Kiss Land released in the fall of 2013. during a 2013 interview with complex the weekend said Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life but it's a world that I created in my head just like House of balloons symbolizes Toronto and my experiences there when I think about Kiss Land I think about a terrifying place it's a place I've never been to before and I'm very unfamiliar with a lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter David Cronenberg and Ridley Scott because they know how to capture fear that's what Kiss Land is to me an environment that's just honest fear and the parallel between cinematic influences enables creative process would continue to be a thread throughout his career to this day he continuously references Art House filmmakers of the 80s and 90s such as David Cronenberg David Lynch Martin Scorsese even borrowing their design ideas and production styles with film looks color palettes and gritty and sometimes surreal Aesthetics in his videos and you can really hear that throughout kissland as the title track includes menacing synths sample screams and dark hearts [Music] baby take your time but while Kiss Land beat Trilogy and chart performance debuting at number two on the billboard 200 the reviews weren't nearly as good as the previous three mixtapes the critical consensus considered it lacking in the bite and catchiness of its predecessor people said that it repeated too many similar beats and an emphasized concept and storytelling rather than the music itself in a 2021 GQ interview Abel would look back on kissland and consider it a transitional point in his career stating that by the time I got to make Kiss Land I was emotionally tapped out I did three albums in one year plus I was working on take care at the same time and me not yet fully transitioning into a pop star I was in a middle ground I feel Kiss Land was that very honest but also stubborn and not letting a lot of input in it wasn't that it was bad music I think people were just confused as much as I was taking into account that his first album had been more or less a bit of a flop able became focused on elevating and securing his status into the mainstream A-list atmosphere he followed kissland's release with a handful of movie soundtrack and pop features like Devil May Cry for Hunger Games Catching Fire earned it for 50 Shades of Gray and a special guest appearance on Love Me Harder by Ariana Grande you make it look like it's magic cause I see nobody nobody but you you I'm never confused latitude becoming the weekend's first top 10 hits with Love Me Harder charting at seven and earned it charting at number three these releases hinted at the weekend's new creative Direction shifting his original alternative R B background to a more mainstream pop oriented sound inviting high profile producers and artists into the studio like Kanye Max Martin and Ed Sheeran while some people who had been listening since House of balloons seem to worry that the weekend might end up a kind of sellout his second album Beauty behind the madness was nearly perfect Beauty behind the madness was a massive record with a sprawling dark Fantastical presentation Abel doubled down on his core themes and ideas and perfected his pop song craft in an exciting way walking a thinner tightrope between light and dark than he ever had before with his catchy pop Melodies soaring vocals and clever lyrics he was exploring the Dark Knight of his soul and making it sound as poppy as he could at the same time the two biggest songs off this album are my favorite examples the Michael jacksonesque can't feel my face became his first number one hit followed immediately by another number one song The Hills both were critically acclaimed with the hills receiving praise for hearkening back to the weekend's dark horror-inspired brooding Origins without any concessions and ultimately becoming Abel's first diamond record [Music] heaven the hell is Born the former became two-time Grammy nominated and even bizarrely considering its subject matter of cocaine addiction grabbed a Kid's Choice Award nomination for song of the year and it was right around that time in 2015 that the weekend became an Unstoppable force in pop music in a way he had never accomplished before the weekend was suddenly an artist you could hear at a backyard college party or an upscale Boutique or even somehow at family-friendly restaurants and stores he was becoming an Unstoppable force of Fame with a long colorful and emotional tracklist featuring artists like Lana Del Rey and Ed Sheeran in production from giants like Kanye and Max Martin Beauty behind the madness was a gargantuan success undoubtedly one of the defining pop albums of the early 2010s without removing the weekend's Outsider Edge I think he was definitely still on the outside of the mainstream not for any reason of sales or Street dreams or fame but simply because he remained something of a mystery the feeling of being a strange and mysterious character more than a real person or celebrity kept him an outsider even when he was blasting into unprecedented and mainstream success Beauty behind the madness debuted at number one on the billboard 200 initially selling nearly half a million copies in its first week and it was the weekend's first number one album after four previous projects he became an icon overnight with the hair the voice and the Moody sounds without sacrificing his OG fans for even a minute even his biggest hits from this time hold up as cult classic tracks and radio hits at the same time I still love to hear Hills real life tell your friends even despite their mainstream oversaturation that's a once in a generation musical accomplishment [Music] we are not the same I entered far exceeding the impact and influence of Trilogy and Kiss Land Beauty behind the madness became a milestone record of the 2010s the kind of album that was so popular even the cover itself became a pop art icon just off how unavoidable it was at the time it showed that the weekend is an artist who can both appeal to mainstream audiences and fulfill Artistic integrity in an interesting way at the same time which is an extremely valuable quality to have in terms of its sound Beauty behind the madness is one of my personal favorite pop albums it's definitely not a true alternative r b Indie album like the projects that came before it but I don't think that automatically makes it shallow and superficial either I will say this album is less personal and artistic sounding than after hours in Dawn FM that's for sure but it's not boring either truthfully I've always loved its production and I still do with all the different influences from disco to Funk Soul r b and trap is anything but generic and Abel's vocals tie everything together in a way that feels high class and shiny songs like real life Hills and often are heavily inspired by trap and RnB while can't feel my face tell your friends and in the night are far more Poppy and accessible [Music] holy communities [Music] I do think the last three or four songs on this project are a little bit forgettable but overall This Record made a huge impact on me as a teenager and I still love it today from the harsh noise to the smooth sounds it's a very Grand cinematic album and it's definitely the project that made the weekend the star he is today after a beauty behind the madness the weekend only continued to get more and more popular as a mainstream pop star headlining multiple festivals having a few extremely public relationships and also continuing his streak of memorable collaborations appearing on Kanye's FML from the life of Pablo Pray For Love from Travis Scott's rodeo and six inch by Beyonce from lemonade which all made him more of a topic of discussion than ever before he was a true character at this time he was the guy with the shadowy outfits the giant hair and the beautiful voice a newcomer with an edge and the industry just couldn't get enough but even through all the wild success Abel found with beauty behind the madness it would be barely a year before for the next weekend album completely destroyed expectations and succeeded even more than he had before the weekend was once again inspired for a change while his image and style had become iconic he knew he had to grow if he wanted the success to continue he needed a new identity he got rid of the free-form hairstyle that had almost entirely defined His image for the last five years and he pushed even further away from his original dark indie sound instead looking towards a more shiny mainstream Pop Style that combined trap beats with upbeat production at the same time and the project felt almost engineered to be as mainstream as possible one of the most streamed albums of the Year while still being cool and stylistically substantive somehow it worked perfectly Starboy became a celebration of Abel's new found stardom creating a character who was confident egotistical and outrageously successful building off the lavish collaborations of his previous album he brought even more high-profile and eclectic names daf Punk Lana Del Rey Kendrick Lamar future and Diplo able transitioned from being Indie inspired to making full-blown Blockbusters Starboy was a commercial success and it got good reviews too but it did get some criticism a lot of people felt that Starboy was too polished and that it pushed too far into pop sounding almost Bland or nondescript and I think that's a fair opinion to have if there were any weekend album that could be considered not great or not amazing I think Starboy would be that record but at the same time you know Abel is a pop star looking to make pop hits but nothing on Starboy doesn't follow his heart and his vision Starboy is a really interesting album full of themes of hard-earned success the feeling of going from a homeless drug addict with a dream to one of the world's biggest pop stars in six short years to imply that Starboy is shallow shows a lack of willingness to really engage in the songs let's talk about the title track yes he's thinking about having a collection of luxury cars but his tone especially through the chorus hints back at that Melancholy in depression that was much more prolific in his earlier work he says look what you've done here I'm a star boy almost like a sarcastic taunt to The Listener and even himself he's achieved his dreams of being one of the biggest pop stars but in the end was all the partying was all the empty relationships really worth it does he even really want this anymore in the darkness of his visuals continues as well he visualizes his own death multiple times in the videos for false alarm and Starboy the latter in which his new persona suffocates his old one to death while these ideas and themes are subtle they're strung throughout the album and would bubble over completely with his next release in terms of sound it's similar to Beauty behind the madness the songs on Starboy are a perfect Sonic Time Capsule from 2016. the title track false alarm party monster I feel it coming these were inescapable hits and they're Inseparable from them together [Music] still though a lot of fans were clamoring for the old weekend the man who sang about pills and toxic relationships with a dark gritty sound in many ways that was missing from Starboy it's up to you whether or not you like it I personally think it's pretty good but it did make a huge commercial impact and allow able to continue growing as a major pop star internationally the weekend's next album after hours may be his magnum opus every single theme he's ever written about it culminates on this record with brilliantly concise beautifully heartbreaking lyrics about themes of self-loathing loneliness and heartbreak and his love of movies and visual storytelling is right there too with Gorgeous music videos and a psychedelic aesthetic unlike anything else taking Inspirations from movies like uncut gems fear and lonely in Las Vegas and casino but most of all his pop appeal after hours had the biggest debut of the weekend's entire career with almost 500 000 sales in the first week and his production it mixes insanely catchy synthwave pop sounds with off the beaten past dream pop and drum and bass in a way that makes it feel like a gigantic feat of Pop appeal and a work of substance at the same time after hours is by far one of the greatest pop masterpieces released in the 21st century so far if not the absolute best so what made after hours so incredibly successful and good all of Abel's influences and ideas dark alternative r b glossy 80s style synth tracks honest and hedonistic lyrics and dark surreal cinematic visual influences it all reaches its peak on after hours and while he has been striving for distinct eras throughout his career after hours represents an even Tighter and more finely tuned artistic Vision it was announced in late 2019 by a single tweet tonight we start a brain melting psychotic chapter and for the next two years from this tweet until his Super Bowl show in 2021 Abel would appear publicly wearing the same costume the same red suit the same facial hair the same makeup the same glasses every single time he went live or on a talk show or for an interview or at a concert he was fully embodying a new character and telling a story through every single music video in live performance even dropping a short film to go along with the record The album's Narrative follows the weekend as he's driven slowly insane and becomes more battered and hurt and in pain from The Emptiness of celebrity life in Los Angeles following a relapse into the destructive behavior from his past at the end of the story The self-destruction takes him whole and he turns to ideas of death and Transcendence as the only way to depict the true Devastation in his heart after hours is a truly dark album whereas I think in the past the weekend made a lot of dark songs the weight of his sadness is immense on after hours as he finds no other way to describe his sadness other than the image of leaving life itself behind it's impossible to tell the story of after hours without mentioning its singles because they were massive heartless was a major success being Abel's fourth number one hit but blinding lights was on a whole different scale it's one of if not the biggest Pop Song of the 21st century so far it hit number one for four weeks it spent more weeks in the top 10 than any other song in history and spent a total of 90 weeks on the charts making it the longest charting single of all time that's nearly two years on the charts atop the charts in Canada and England and dozens of other countries and to this day blinding lights is the most streamed Song in Spotify history with over 3.4 billion streams but even above all that blinding lights is still a good track you know most extremely popular songs just aren't that good but these singles from after hours are both extremely mainstream and true to the themes of the album I wouldn't say I still love hearing heartless and blinding lights after hearing them 10 000 times but as far as songs go that have billions of streams I vastly prefer blinding lights to God's plan or Believer by Imagine Dragons [Music] I've been trying to call I've been on my own after hours debuted at number one with almost half a million copies sold in a week producing three number one hits and giving the weekend enough cultural cachet to perform the Super Bowl halftime show in 2021 the weekend had finally reached the very top of the pyramid but even more than that after hours was a genuine cultural phenomenon Abel was finally the real king of Pop having produced an album that could be considered not only inescapably popular but also perfect at least in the eyes of many if not all of his fans I personally love after hours I really do I think it has a perfect combination of the darkness and mix of styles that we heard on Trilogy with all the amazing production like drum and bass on songs like too late and hardest to love [Music] thank you or the dream pop sounds on tracks like Faith until I bleed out giving the record a ghostly empty feel [Music] after hours is so accessible yet there's so much going on at the same time in a way that very few albums ever achieve I think it's a lot more balanced than anything Abel made before Beauty behind the madness in Starboy were incredibly successful projects and there are lots of songs I love from those albums But ultimately I think the production on those records is a lot less cinematic and Timeless than after hours there are some iconic moments on both of those albums but I think overall it's a bit too shiny and I don't want to say Bland but it's not exactly spicy either whereas I think after hours really uses its production to create a much darker atmosphere than Abel had in a long time while also reaching to much higher commercial Heights than Trilogy or kiss land and I think his vocal performance is lyrics and Persona also improved a lot between 2016 and 2020. in some inexplainable way I think the weekend character or didn't feel that convincing until after hours probably in a lot of ways because he hadn't quite fleshed out the themes of suffering until this point yeah his songs could be pretty messed up and pretty dark but the lyrics and presentation weren't always there to sell the atmosphere after hours though is full of real suffering it contains by far his deepest meditations on sadness with songs like snow child diving into his troubled past an escape from La reflecting on his adult regrets more so than ever before I used to pray when I was 16. if I didn't make it then I'd probably make my wrist bleed automatically turn my nightmares into Big Dreams the story of after hours really follows the weekend's character in a meaningful way it shows how all the drugs all the partying all the women led him to a dark and hopeless place and everything about after hours feels more intense than whatever he'd done before after hours sustained massive commercial success for around two years after it came out this album was everywhere but that didn't stop Abel from seeking out yet another artistic rebirth in January 2022 Abel dropped Don FM with just a week's notice as not just a new album but a direct sequel to after hours pushing even further into the 1980s sound that after hours dabbled in Don FM leans heavy on house synth pop new wave and even some disco sounds the album also represents in my opinion able biggest thematic growth the nihilism he's always relied on is deconstructed as a response to the themes of after hours and at the same time he continued to push boundaries with the production the concepts and the presentation of the record being a huge departure from anything he'd done in the past what you have to know is the concept and motifs of dot fm are pretty important to any understanding of what it's really about so let's break it down dot fm is themed as a ghostly radio show that plays as You Follow the light through the tunnel into the Afterlife not to sound like you're listening to the radio but that the album is the radio and Abel went all out to make sure that the effect wasn't a gimmicky trick but instead he used it as a way to make Don FM a beautiful existential Odyssey and we have to start with Jim Carrey you know I mentioned all throughout this video that the weekend Loves movies and he's been putting cinematic references and motifs in his music and videos from the very beginning and Don FM is the ultimate manifestation of that because Jim Carrey one of the most legendary actors around narrates.fm the way that a DJ would narrate A hip-hop mixtape he plays this kind of menacing yet soothing character whose job it is to guide you into the unknown of the afterlife and he executes it perfectly he's only on three tracks 1 7 and 16. but he really made a mark on the project with his silky delivery and his existential Reflections on life and death and as an aside I also think it's really cool that Josh safdi the director of uncut gems which was Abel's first major film role back in 2019 also has a little tiny Cameo on track 12 during one of the interludes nothing major but I think it was a nice touch overall I think Don FM is a very creatively ambitious project it plays with many different sounds from the liminality of the vaporwave on out of time to the ridiculously gorgeous singing on less than zero and the production is also shockingly good but when you look at the liner notes and you realize that the majority of songs were produced by either Max Martin or Daniel lopatin the composer of the uncut gems sound track also known as oneotrick's Point never it's not a big surprise that Don FM is downright gorgeous I personally don't like synthwave sounds I usually think the songs can be pretty corny and more or less tasteless but tracks like gasoline sacrifice and take my breath do a great job at feeling shiny and retro futuristic without ever venturing into the territory of sounding like a video game soundtrack [Music] and I also love the city pop the soft rock and the Disco Inspirations that can be found throughout the album [Music] thank you [Music] and you know it's not easy to make an album with so many different influences and actually have it work like I mentioned earlier I just usually associate synthwave with the background of a YouTube commercial or a video game montage and I really don't like the sound of the genre I really feel like synthwave is one of those Reddit genres like electro swing or chiptune that isn't really a bad concept but somehow no one has ever executed it in a way that sounds good but if there's any producer who could take a plate out and contrive sound and really make it beautiful of course it would be one outreach's point never if you listen to his past work whether it's his own work or his work on soundtracks for the safety Brothers he really knows how to add amazing atmosphere into a song he has so many Timeless tracks but if I had to pick one the song Mohegan Suite from the uncut gems soundtrack would be a perfect example of his talent foreign [Music] I think popular synthwave tracks like night call can be so in your face and unrefined but the weekend and when otrick's Point never had a great idea to mix this synthwave sound with disco and R B and soul to keep its smooth classy classic and fun instead of making Don FM sound like a rocket League montage and I think that the weekend's collaborations with Daft Punk from Starboy may have given him some major inspiration in this way the way that Daft Punk can throw a billion different effects and instruments and samples into one song and make it sound fun reminds me of the same way that Dawn FM doesn't take itself too seriously it has a beautifully serious sound but at the same time the tracks are full of little quirks and effects and small pieces of uniqueness everywhere you look and speaking of the record sounding smooth and fun I think overall Don FM is a much lighter album than any weekend project before it in every way from the production being more light-hearted to the lyrics feeling more optimistic than ever before there is still nihilism and suffering and darkness this on songs like gasoline or sacrifice but the general story arc of Don FM seems to attack the same themes as after hours but from an uplifting and bright angle I wouldn't call it a Heavenly or uplifting record because it still does feel kind of sinister in the same way that the weekend always has maybe he'll save that uplifting Heavenly sound for the third part of the trilogy but rather Don FM feels like a state of purgatory or transition Don you know the beginning of a new day and you do feel this sentiment all throughout the record and it does culminate in dot fm being a very unique experience unlike anything the weekend made before in the bloviating words of Pitchfork the sound of Don FM is decadent because it's so discordant each song is sumptuously saturated with instrumental quirks Don FM is a cavernous album and the surprises on its tracks can feel like hidden crystalline Chambers a sample from a 1983 Japanese City pop song slips into a shimmery ballad a Beach Boys member coup's background vocals while Tyler the Creator howls you go inside this prenup although I have to be honest the features from Tyler and Lil Wayne may be the weakest part of Don FM they're not bad but they're not great either at least in my mind the album's production vocals spoken word and themes are a lot more interesting than those features and I do feel a little confused as to why the weekend kept them in but despite its beautiful production and vocals and the way that Abel pushed his craft to the next level in every way on Don FM it didn't perform nearly as well as had been expected especially after the insane success of after hours Don FM's first week sales dropped to less than half that of after hours and it didn't even top the charts and as crazy as this sounds it doesn't have nearly as many streams as his other projects only half the songs have over 100 million plays on Spotify and even though it may have flopped in some people's minds I think Don FM is easily the second best weekend album right behind after hours and slightly ahead of Kiss Land is just such a strong production the vocals the Creative Vision the visuals it's all impeccably well crafted and I love how the weekend just keeps making these albums that are as good as they are popular but why did Don FM fail I think one of the obvious answers is that Abel and his team hardly dedicated any time at all to promoting the project they only announced Don FM's release date for days in advance and they didn't put nearly as much time into music videos and singles I think mainly because the singles four after hours were still overwhelmingly popular when Don FM came out after hours was so big there just wasn't enough space for him to drop an album in a traditional way with that being said there are some artists who can do a surprise job and still have it work out so there must be other factors as to why Don FM didn't do as well as it was expected to they only announced Don FM's release date four days in advance and they didn't put nearly as much time into music video videos and singles I think mainly because the singles for after hours were still charting and they were still going viral when Don FM came out it's almost like after hours was so big that there just wasn't enough space for him to drop an album again so soon that being said there are tons of artists that can do a surprise drop and still have a huge release like Beyonce and Eminem So there must be other factors as to why Don FM didn't do as well as it was expected to I think one of the big reasons why Don FM just didn't sell as well is because it's a weird album compared to his previous work from the old man character to the track sequencing with interludes and the spoken word to the radio station aesthetic and the album concept I don't think these songs were made to top the charts plus the weekend as an 80 year old man in full makeup Prosthetics and a wig doesn't really scream pop appeal either and as much as I hate to say it because I love the production on Don FM so much I don't think the 80s sound is extremely appealing to the mainstream right now all that being said I still think Don FM is one of the best Weekend albums I think it's an amazing record with great soundscapes gorgeous production and a really unique and interesting concept it also contains some of the best lyrics and Melodies of Abel's entire career and you know I think if he had kept going with a Starboy sound he wouldn't be where he is today Beauty behind the madness and Starboy are really good albums but they're long and they don't have a central story or theme and they're also full of some pretty forgettable tracks I think in the early days of Abel's career he had this raw Edge that made his music dark and strange and fascinating and in the middle of that career he traded that X Factor for the mainstream sound he needed to become a pop star but now that he's reached a mind-blowing level of success 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify he can go back and make the masterpieces he was always capable of after hours in Don FM are two of the best albums I've ever heard they're my favorite pop albums ever and I think they're a shining example of how interesting pop can be when it feels elevated through the depth of its production and lyrics and it's amazing how far the weekend has come as an artist in the past 10 years in a time when most pop albums are underwhelming at best and pop stars don't have nearly the same cultural pull as they did in the past the weekend is one of the few artists still pushing the medium forward and not only is he doing that but he's making a mark in music history as one of the most iconic artists of our time the weekend's success is incredible especially for his rise from Total obscurity in just 10 years he's gone from an enigmatic Indie singer with artsy mysterious presentation and an alternative sound to possibly the most commercially successful iconic musical artist alive the first person to ever break 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify he makes songs for parties nightclubs shopping malls or Lonely Nights by yourself as you try to make sense of your life to me what sets him apart is his ability to constantly reinvent himself time and time again presenting a Persona that's both artistically true to to where he's at while also creating hits to take the darkest most honest parts of his life and turn them into pop sing-along Anthems for a guy who started making music while homeless on the freezing streets of Toronto for someone who keeps his life private and speaks to us only through his music he has come incredibly far with his art and he wouldn't be who he is without that backstory you couldn't make what he makes if you're just some boring industry plant when you see the videos of Abel singing in the cold in the middle of the night with no money or fame to his name you can see that he always had what it took to truly become someone not just anyone but an artist that would change the face of pop music by making some of the best albums of his entire generation from the enigmatic strangeness of Trilogy to the immense Grandeur of beauty behind the madness in Starboy through the Cinematic journey of after hours in Don FM he's made a huge impact on the world of Music especially because he's never given up on his vision and only continues to improve on the sound and presentation of his work the weekend is a Timeless artist he's one of my favorite singers of all time and with such an amazing vision for his work the fact that he's the most extreme artist in the world with over 100 million monthly listeners is just a nice bonus on top of his incredible work that only gets better and better with time this has been the story of the weekend I'm Phillip this is volksgeist thank you for watching and of course don't forget that my new necklace the darkest night and the brightest day is now available with free shipping in the US and as a thank you for watching this far into the video you can use the code volksgang for more than 11 off your order thank you so much for your support

Channel: Volksgeist

Views: 1,111,207

Keywords: volksgeist, the weeknd, after hours, dawn fm, Abel tesfaye

Id: 33P83SpibHk

Length: 43min 45sec (2625 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 10 2023