I started listening to The Weeknd to impress a girl I had a crush on.
It was 2012, we all thought the world was gonna end and this African Canadian with wild hair loved singing about Drugs. His Tenor voice was as hypnotic as the lifestyle he sang about. I wasn’t too big on it, mostly because the girl I liked had already moved and listening to him was just a reminder of a ball I dropped. Time past though, The Weeknd became a bigger star, one of the only to escape OVO, and his songs took on a more accessible tone. I wasn’t crazy about his “lets all do drugs and have sex” music, but I enjoyed his “lets all do drugs and have sex : sponsored by the movie Twilight” music. His hardcore fans said he “sold out” but I loved it. I loved the he was making clothes with Express and toned down his videos so that you don’t see as many nipples. This to me was growth. So when I found out he had a new album, I decided to use my corona inspired downtime to give it a listen.
So with that let’s get into his new album “After Hours”.
This seems right.
I’ve never had fun at an After Hours spot but I always go. Weird things usually happen, one time an asian guy in a suit stood in the bathroom and listened to me pee. I know he was listening because he said “your pee stream is really loud”. Another time I drank champagne while a middle aged white guy danced to Young Thug with an overly dressed girl in a fur coat. I don’t feel like I belong, but I end up at these events because it’s what I think I “should” be doing. On this album, it feels like The Weeknd shares this sentiment. He’s built a career of being moody and druggy, so people naturally expect this energy. However it’s clear that he’s bored of this. The “live fast, die young” lifestyle only seems cool til you realize dying young is like 35. It’s usually not a “suddenly his heart stopped as he was having a threesome and eating a cheeseburger” death. It’s “due to the complications of your behavior 10 years, your heart is now weak” death. This album reflects that. While it’s still very atmospheric and moody, The Weeknd is not excited by his routine. He enjoys that he can numb himself for a moment, but the actuality of it is a real bummer. I feel like I could hang with The Weeknd at a strip club and relate on a surface level cuz we’d both be bored. He’d be bored because the novelty has worn off and I’d be bored because I’m broke and strip clubs with no money are like arcades with no money; just sad.
This is a good album to listen to when you’re on a multi-stage date and you aren’t sure if you like each other til you reach the 3rd location. Like it’s going well, but then she ran into one of her friends who clearly came to make sure you weren’t a psycho and then after that you run into your homie who ghosted her. You know, one of those dates. If you’ve ever gone out because it’s a Friday night and you’re tired of being home, this album is for you. But if you’re on quarantine and need an album to do illicit drugs to, this album is for you as well. This album has a sense of unease o it that only works when you’re not excited to do something that should be exciting. The Weeknd is over everything, at one point he flat out says “I don’t even wanna do drugs no more” and I truly relate to that level of existential crisis. One time I heard a male porn star on a podcast say that he’s had sex with over 5,000 women, and he couldn’t tell you what it felt like. This album reminds me of that podcast. There’s something insanely sad about someone living a “dream” who’s only wish is to “wake up”.
Now downsides, I do like poppy but some of these songs are wild poppy. At some points I feel a genuine connection to The Weeknd’s emotional exhaustion, but at others I sit back like “I could buy some jeans from H&M to this”. While I wasn’t fully on board with Abel’s initial music, there was a quality of exclusivity that made it resonate. “After Hours” doesn’t really have that. It’s kind of like when everyone found out there was a secret menu at InNout, half the fun was knowing most people didn’t know this existed. Also, if you’re not in the mood to hear a nigga go on and on about how he used to be happy and now he’s tired, you’ll get bored fast. There were points I wanted to straight up ask homie, “well what makes you happy? if it’s not this, it’s gotta be something”. Then again, maybe that’s the point, maybe the reason his face is so bloody on the album cover is because he keeps running into the same wall.
I enjoyed this album, there were a few songs that will sneak on to different playlists, but I don’t see myself running back to it too often. I give “After Hours” 7 black gloves out of 12.