5 minute read
Method in Madness
There came a time when Abel Tesfaye no longer found himself lusting for anonymity. Making it out of the shadows of his major label debut in 2013 with Kiss Land, the artist now exposes himself as the beauty behind the madness. There’s no need to wait any longer ‘cause THE WEEKND is here.
By Isabella Argosino
Photos courtesy of MCA Music Inc.
Abel Tesfaye was just a 17-year old boy from Scarborough when he decided to drop out of high school, leave, and never come back–all in the span of a weekend. Fast forward to eight years, six albums, and more than 18 awards and nominations later, that same vagabond teenager took his daily grind to the throne of PR&B success he currently sits proudly on. The now 25- year old singer, songwriter, and producer only recently broke the air of mystery he built around himself when he first started out in the scene. Releasing his first few songs on YouTube back in 2010 under his moniker, Abel held a strong aversion to press, consistently turning down the media in hopes that his music would speak for itself–even going full cipher by suppressing his face and birth name from the public for a time. Maybe it was the reticence that made the idea of The Weeknd all the more appealing, because fans continuously devoured his art without being distracted by or drawn to a mere poster child. But one thing was certain–Abel was glad to remain behind the curtains.
In 2011, Abel gradually started to put a face to the music as he began performing live for selected crowds. He had also just released his holy trinity of albums that made him rise to prominence, backed up by online buzz and curiosity from the public eye, all wanting to penetrate the obscure, monochromatic world in which The Weeknd existed. But he was careful, tiptoeing along the vicious tightrope of the pop culture realm, cautious not to fall into a pit of shortchanged publicity stunts. “The music industry seems to run a lot on hype,” his co-managers tell Billboard.com. “Abel wanted to see where things would go with his songs living on their own merits.” Floating into the airwaves, House Of Balloons came on strong for a first album as the crooner preached pharmacological debauchery coupled with dark, sensual undertones delivered through his astral yet sharp vocals that make their way to your inner visceral without you even knowing what hit you. From the hard-opener “High For This” to “Glass Table Girls,” Abel makes no apologies as he disturbs listeners with the most sensitive of topics, but the end product is a thematic masterpiece that’s hard to turn away from, much like a drug in itself. The following albums he released within months after continued his tale of a troubled lover, with the desperation of Thursday and tragic tastefulness of Echoes of Silence, which he also dropped for free under his own label. It was only a matter of time before major labels would start taking notice of the low-profile artist. In the same year he got signed to Universal Music Group, he was catapulted to the forefronts of the idiosyncratic new breed of R&B.
Similar to many other R&B and hiphop producers, Abel builds songs around samples from other recordings. Instead of using the usual jazz and vintage singles, he layers alt rock samples from classic crooners such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Beach House. But perhaps one of the most vital yet overlooked traces one can find in his songs is the consistent influence of the late King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Aside from the tremulous similarity between the two’s way of singing, it is Jackson who lies in The Weeknd’s cross hairs. “These kids, you know, they don’t have a Michael Jackson,” he tells NY Times. “They don’t have a Prince. They don’t have a Whitney. Who else is there? Who else can really do it at this point?” Instead of following Jackson’s legacy of suave bravado, he diverged and took a different path entirely, bravely presenting himself as scarred and vulnerable. At the time, R&B was a dying genre that devolved into a bland side dish to the main course that was hip-hop. But soon, other R&B singers started surfacing– from Frank Ocean, and Miguel, to The Internet and Jhene Aiko–all breathing life into the genre that thrived in the time of Aaliyah, and even Lauryn Hill. But there was The Weeknd, who chose not to be an ass-kissing crowd-pleaser with sugar-coated lyrics and sell-out synths. He grabbed R&B by the throat and made it entirely his own.
While his 2013 debut record, Kiss Land, was a hit with the critics, it didn’t translate so well into commercial appeal, selling only 268,000 copies. Abel’s sound engineer, Jason Quenneville compared his previous albums to an, “O.K., fine, I’ll play ball” moment, while he quipped Kiss Land as “O.K., let’s play baseball, but you’re swining a plate of spaghetti,” as seen in an interview with NY Times. Fortunately, The Weeknd’s fan base held their ground with their continued support to his more Technicolor pieces. But then again, Abel isn’t here to please. “The album is about what young men think but will never say out loud. I’ve learned to pretty much not give a shit, and it kind of morphed this sound and it works,” he told MTV.com. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do than this.”
In the middle of the year, The Weeknd announced the follow-up to Kiss Land, entitled Beauty Behind The Madness, which include tracks “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” and “Often.” As Abel continued to spiral into success, the limelight gave him fewer places to hide. He has since landed himself a spot on the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack and he couldn’t have been a more perfect fit, with his soothingly seductive ballad, “Earned It.” At the same time, he also made R&B history by becoming the first artist to claim the top three slots on the chart, with the said single and two tracks from his new album. He even bagged the BET Centric Award at the 2015 BET Awards for his 50 Shades contribution, which he performed alongside Alicia Keys. “As is so often the way at award ceremonies, the newbie has to team up with a legend. But he doesn’t need her, as he demonstrated when delivering a throbbing version of new single, “The Hills,” laying its bad intensions thrillingly bare in the process,” writes NY Post. “His time is most definitely now.”
Despite his fame, Abel stays true and owes his sanity to his music. He wouldn’t let his art die in the mainstream because his music is far from just a celebration of the end of days and the promise of romance and relaxation that comes with a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. His is a lyrical genuflection on matters of the heart, meant to quietly pierce and overly-indulge. Republic CEO Monte Lipman shares with Billboard.com, “The one thing the modern music industry hasn’t been able to manipulate in 60 to 70 years is word of mouth. That’s what The Weeknd possesses, and it’s been incredibly valuable.”
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