The Weeknd is like the Harriet Tubman of OVO. He escaped and lived to tell the tale. But that's a story for another day.
Abel is one of the few artists who can announce music and completely shift everyone's mood. The minute you start listening to him things just get Dark; he's like the Winter Solstice. So I saw that My Dear Melancholy dropped, I had to prepare myself for the pain.
I gotta say, I hate everything about the Twilight but the smartest thing those series ever did was attach the Weeknd to their Soundtrack. Abel is incredible at making music for sad Vampires. Every song is basically him saying "I've been dead for hundreds of years so all I can feel is heartbreak". Whenever I hear his music I get the urge to name my first child Damien.
My Dear Melancholy is 22 minutes long and it feels like watching a Sunset as the Moon Rises. This EP would be fantastic for a Blackout Curtain Ad Campaign, after one listen I never want to see the Sun again. This is the music for the people who post pitch black pictures with vague quotes in their Instagram Story. It's emotional, but not as deep as people want to make it seem.
That brings me to my problem with this EP, I don't like that "emotional" music is always something sad. There's a ton of different emotions out there, but it comes across like the Weeknd can only feel Remorse, Regret and Cocaine. I completely understand that his fanbase wants to be sad and melancholy as life does kind of suck, but there's so much more out there. Plus Abel is a god damn MILLIONAIRE.
Listening to The Weeknd sing about being Sad is like watching Will Smith give advice on Pursuing your dreams. It's appreciated but you Niggas don't got student loans, tell me about something else for a little while. I'll admit though, it would be pretty difficult for The Weeknd to sing about positive emotions, it's hard to be happy when you sound like you just got stabbed by Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Over all My Dear Melancholy is a cool little tape, its about the length of a late night Uber ride after having mediocre sex with an Ex. It's cool, but it's not for me. I give My Dear Melancholy 6 Deleted "I Miss You" Texts out of 10.