12 minute read
While you were gone
MADELYN MUSCHEK City News Editor
Courtesy of Spotify
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In the midst of tour dates being canceled and bands breaking up, it seems that today’s top artists haven’t slowed down, including The Weeknd.
Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, released his most recent album, “Dawn FM” on Jan. 7. “Dawn FM” was one of the most anticipated releases over winter break.
This 16-song album comes almost two years after his last album, “After Hours,” one of his most successful projects.
Last year, “After Hours” won the “Top R&B Album” at the Billboard Music Awards, and “Blinding Lights,” the album’s lead single, won three awards, including “Top R&B Song.” The Weeknd also performed the Super Bowl halftime show last year.
The Weeknd was also a major contributor to Kanye West’s most recent album, “DONDA,” for which he won multiple awards as well.
So, following the significant success he has had in the past couple of years, does “Dawn FM” live up to expectations?
The album begins with one of its most interesting aspects, a feature by Jim Carrey. In the first song – which is also the title track – Carrey’s voice narrates an introduction to the album, which was also released on The Weeknd’s Twitter. Carrey’s introduction frames the album as a radio station experience titled “Dawn FM,” a creative way to give listeners a frame of mind in which to perceive the album.
“Take My Breath,” the fourth song on “Dawn FM,” was released last year as a lead single. This song, like much of the other pop-ish songs on the album, feels very 80’s synth-pop with heavy keyboard and electronic influences. Staying true to his roots, The Weeknd focuses on sexual references and passion in this song, as well as in its music video.
Partially released on Instagram, “Is There Someone Else?” is a song that’s introspective and retrospective as The Weeknd questions his place in a love interest’s life, and its electronic rhythm fits in with the rest of the album, already one of the most popular songs on “Dawn FM.”
The collaboration that stands out the most on the album is Tyler, The Creator’s feature on “Here We Go… Again.” This song focuses on success and new love and leans into electronic R&B, slow, simple and controlled.
“Dawn FM” ends with “Phantom Regret by Jim,” an eerie and robotic monologue by Jim Carrey, which encourages listeners to reflect as Carrey rhymes. He talks about life, death and Heaven, considering the meaning of it all. It’s haunting but hypnotizing. “May peace be with you” is the last line of “Dawn FM.”
An interesting aspect of “Dawn FM” is that many of the songs lead into each other with seamless transitions, such as with “How Do I Make You Love Me?” to “Take My Breath” and from “Is There Someone Else?” to “Starry Eyes.” This style is not as widely seen in albums today and reinforces the idea of the album as a radio station playing songs continuously.
It seems that over the course of his career, The Weeknd has ventured more and more into pop, and in both his last album and in this one, he experiments with synth and electronic beats rather than the melodic rhythm of his earlier work, which is much more R&B.
As we reflect on this album, we must ask if this movement towards pop feels genuine to The Weeknd’s sound as an artist, or if it feels like a version of The Weeknd that isn’t true to our perception of his discography.
Though the sound of this album feels different than his older music, much of the themes are the same – passion, desire, success, wealth, retrospection, possession, physical sensation and dreams.
Overall, “Dawn FM” is a project in which The Weeknd expands his sound and experiments with new mediums. There are great songs within, but as a whole, the album doesn’t have the kind of strength that we saw on “After Hours.” The magnitude of his previous work is hard to beat, but this album is a different, interesting step for Abel.
ETHAN STONE Assistant Sports Editor
Josh Heupel’s inaugural season as head coach of Tennessee football ended around the same time classes officially adjourned for the semester on Dec 1.
Right around that time, both men’s and women’s basketball schedules started to ramp up in intensity. Both basketball coaches, Kellie Harper and Rick Barnes, had work to do over the break in proving their teams were capable of hanging with the top talents in the SEC.
Here’s a recap on how those three programs fared in the months of December and early January.
Women’s basketball
It’s safe to say Harper and the Lady Vols are all the way back.
Despite the loss of star senior guard Rae Burrell in the season opener, the Lady Vols soldiered through the back end of their nonconference schedule, winning games against Tennessee Tech and Georgia State at home and handling a sneaky good Virginia Tech squad on the road.
The Lady Vols lost their only game of the year in a tight contest against Stanford, which is now ranked the No. 2 team in the country. When they woke up the following morning, the Lady Vols were 9-1.
The trio of Tamari Key, Jordan Walker and Jordan Horston stepped up big in absence of Burrell all the way up to her return against Arkansas on Jan. 2. At full strength, the Lady Vols showed just how dangerous they can be among the elite of the SEC.
The Lady Vols returned home to Thompson-Boling Arena to face No. 25 Texas A&M after downing Alabama and Arkansas. The aforementioned trio and Burrell combined for 36 points in a dominating 73-45 victory.
In case the message hadn’t yet been set, the Lady Vols shellacked No. 19 Kentucky 8458 to improve to 6-0 in SEC play. The following AP Poll affirmed Tennessee as the No. 5 team in the nation with a 17-1 record.
Tennessee’s play has been nothing short of perfect following their loss to Stanford. Harper attributes that to playing as a unit over playing as individuals following the loss of their star player.
“Our team, one of the best things we’re doing right now is playing with great confidence in each other,” Harper said. “Understanding what their teammates can do and putting their teammates in positions to make positive plays. That’s what I’ve enjoyed about this team here recently, we’ve really developed into that.”
Tennessee improved to 6-0 in SEC play after beating the Wildcats. The Lady Vols are the only undefeated team remaining in the SEC as of Jan. 21.
Men’s basketball
Rick Barnes’ squad lost a sloppy game in early December to Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden in New York City before turning around and ending non-conference play with a resume building victory against No. 6 Arizona.
What seemed like positive momentum turned out to be short-lived. The Vols lost three of their next five games to start SEC play before squeaking one out against Vanderbilt to improve to an even 3-3 in the early stages of their conference schedule.
It’s not as if Tennessee’s early SEC schedule was a walk in the park, though. All three of Tennessee’s conference losses came to ranked opponents — No. 19 Alabama, No. 21 LSU and No. 18 Kentucky.
Two of those losses seemed like winnable affairs. The Vols were without the services of freshman guard Kennedy Chandler and John Fulkerson against Alabama and left too many points at the free throw line to complete a late-stage comeback against the Tigers on the road.
Tennessee caught the Wildcats on a bad day. Kentucky looked like a national title contender at Rupp Arena when the Vols came to town, shooting nearly 68% from the field in a 107-79 blowout. STORY CONTINUED ONLINE
KEENAN THOMAS Staff Writer
Around 6:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2021, somebody set fire to the Planned Parenthood building on 710 N. Cherry Street in Knoxville, TN.
After receiving a call at 6:39 a.m., the City of Knoxville Fire Department arrived on the scene around 6:43 a.m. The fire had already extended through the roof and spread throughout the building.
Four hours later, the fire had been extinguished. Nothing but parts of the building’s frame remained.
Assistant fire chief and public information officer Mark Wilbanks talked about the remains of the healthcare facility.
“The building is a total loss,” Wilbanks said. “It is literally the frame around the outside of the building in places. It will have to be completely taken down all the way and rebuilt. There’s nothing to save from the structure.”
Fortunately, the building was under renovation and had been closed for a couple weeks before the fire, so no one was injured. However, this has set back the health center from reopening sooner than they had hoped.
Planned Parenthood for Tennessee and North Mississippi’s CEO Ashley Coffield talked about this setback.
“Before the fire, we had closed on Dec. 8 to wrap up a renovation and expansion project that we were nearly finished with,” Coffield said. “So, we only expected to be closed for just a few weeks, and we were going to reopen with our brand new health center that was more welcoming for our patients, able to serve more patients because it was larger. We also had areas for more community based programs, like comprehensive sex education classes and our advocacy programs.”
“I won’t lie, this sets us back. The fire erased the time and thoughtful energy and resources of what is a relatively small Planned Parenthood,” Coffield said.
A few days after the fire, the Knoxville Fire Department announced that the fire was an act of arson. They weren’t able to share the evidence that they had found, but they confirmed that it pointed towards somebody intentionally setting the building on fire.
Wilbanks talked about this decision. He said that it had taken them longer to collect and process the evidence due to the fire’s magnitude, the debris of the fire and the weather conditions during their search, as well as the potential of it being accidentally started. But, their current information has determined it to be arson.
“It’s a totality of everything they find on the scene, and that’s just a lot of information to process,” Wilbanks said. “It’s a lot on a house fire for our guys to take a look at, so imagine … tenfold information coming at you that you’ve got to process.”
In the wake of the fire, Planned Parenthood is still committed to providing healthcare in Knoxville. Along with abortion services, the center had provided access to sexual education, gender affirming hormone care, birth control and lower priced contraceptives, IUDs and implants, wellperson care, STI testing and cancer screenings.
Coffield said that they are working with Telehealth to continue providing resources, like gender affirming hormone care, for their patients. They are also actively working on giving referrals, which their call center has on hand for patients who call in.
“We’re trying to find providers to expand our Telehealth options for our Knoxville patients, that’s number one,” Coffield said. “Number two, we’re trying to make sure that we’re making appropriate referrals for our Knoxville patients to other providers locally or in the region. And number three, we’re looking at all of our options for opening back as quickly as possible.”
Coffield said that they are currently evaluating the damage to the site of the burned building. They are waiting for assessments on aspects like the plumbing so that they can begin plans on rebuilding the center, but it’s unclear when construction will begin. She did have a message for the 4,000 patients that the center serves annually.
“I would tell our patients to please call us because we will do everything we can to help you, whether it’s through Telehealth or a referral, and I would also tell you that we will be back in some capacity as quickly as possible,” Coffield said. “We’re devastated that our relationship was interrupted by this violent incident and they can have every reassurance that we are going to be back in Knoxville.”
For students at the University of Tennessee, there are resources available from the Planned Parenthood Generation Action Council (PPGAC) student organization. Senior advisor Gabby Magness, secretary Allison Farley and president Mack Hall provided comments on the situation and what they are doing to help on campus.
“PPGAC’s goal is to provide education, resources and a safe space for all students on campus,” Hall said.
The student group aims to bring reproductive rights awareness and sexual education to students on campus, as well as point students to where they can obtain necessary resources. They were devastated by the news of the fire.
“I think it was really heartbreaking for a lot of us,” Farley said. “Seeing a place that had come to mean so much to us suddenly gone is very hard. Our work does not end, though, if anything I think we will do more this semester, to educate students and create a safe space on campus.”
Despite some fear that Hall expressed in relation to the arson, they said that the group plans on entering the spring semester invigorated to rebuild and grow as a student organization.
“In the spring semester we are definitely going to spread information about the alternative ways students can access their necessary care without the health center,” Farley said. “We have not begun brainstorming beyond that point, but I encourage any student with an idea to come join us!”
They hope that more students will join them and support the organization going forward.
“I hope that PPGAC will grow and continue to be an important part of campus life,” Magness said.
With rebuilding in the very early stages, Coffield plans on opening a temporary location sometime this year. For now, they are trying to provide as many resources and referrals as they can while they figure out their future in Knoxville.
“I think that this attack on our facility was a reminder for people in the region how important it is to have a Planned Parenthood, and the community has really rallied in support of us and so many people have stepped up with financial support and with their moral support around our mission and the services that we provide,” Coffield said. “So, I feel like we’re going to come back stronger than ever. I know we will.”
At this time, there has not been any new information on who started the fire. Wilbanks and the Knoxville Fire Department encourage anyone with information to reach out to them. They have a tip hotline that can be reached at 1-800762-3017 or through email at KFDArson@ knoxvilletn.gov. They are offering a reward up to $10,000 for any information towards this ongoing investigation.
