Washington Square News
6
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2019
ARTS
ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM
Edited by CLAIRE FISHMAN
The Weeknd Is Back and Badder Than Ever By LAUREN GRUBER Deputy Culture Editor
“Blinding Lights,” a new single from The Weeknd, was released on Nov. 29.
VIA FACEBOOK @THEWEEKND
After months of teasing, an Instagram hiatus and making his fans wait with bated breath through a two-hour radio show, The Weeknd finally dropped two new singles last week. The elusive rhythm and blues artist, born Abel Tesfaye, is redefining the end of the fall season with new tracks “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights.” Produced by Metro Boomin’, “Heartless” has the pulsing bass and debaucherous lyrics of his 2014 release “King of the Fall.” Beginning with the line, “Never need a b-tch, I’m what a b-tch needs,” this track heralds the return of The Weeknd’s promiscuous ways, notably after his split from model Bella Hadid in August. “Heartless” describes how the money and pain that come with The Weeknd’s lifestyle render him unable to sustain a long-term relationship, a theme touched on throughout much of his discography, most descriptively in “The Birds Pt. 1.” In the bridge, Tesfaye croons in falsetto, questioning why his lover continues to see the good in him despite being clearly shown otherwise. The thumping bass is certainly party-friendly, but the lyrics leave much to be desired. Sure, bragging about bedding models and snorting copious amounts of cocaine is The Weeknd’s bread and butter, but “Heartless” lacks the depth to give it any real weight or meaning. Plenty of rap songs have great production and scandalous themes, but what sets The Weeknd apart are his poignant descriptions of loneliness and intimacy. While his old tracks paired the drugs and debauch-
ery with insightful musings on heartbreak, “Heartless” barely scratches the surface. “Blinding Lights,” on the other hand, sounds like the Stranger Things soundtrack crossed with the artist’s 2016 song “False Alarm.” A snippet of the song was premiered in a Mercedes-Benz advertisement before its official release at midnight on Black Friday. While it might sound like a “Starboy” album reject, the punchy ‘80s synth beats make this track the ideal radio-friendly single to kick off The Weeknd’s sixth chapter. He digs a bit deeper on this second release, which also alludes to stardom’s effects on his love life. While he’s blinded by the lights and fast life of fame, he feels lost until he is comforted by his lover’s presence. Although he keeps up the facade of a merciless player on “Heartless,” “Blinding Lights” is a rare glimpse at the singer’s soft side. He admits that fame is “cold and empty,” and he is not ready to give up on his lover. Hopefully The Weeknd’s new album incorporates more of his trademark bedroom-friendly jams and mournful, drug-addled ballads. “Blinding Lights” shows promise that he will finally give his fans the gut-wrenching lyrics they’ve been yearning for. While an official release date for the album has yet to be announced, Fans speculated that the album may drop on Dec. 20, the last day of fall, following a cryptic tweet by the artist. “We’re creating a beautiful new universe,” he tweeted on Saturday. “Haven’t been this excited in a very long time.” Email Lauren Gruber at lgruber@nyunews.com.
Tisch Fails to Connect Acting and Film Students By JULIE GOLDBERG Books & Theater Editor At the beginning of each semester, Tisch School of the Arts hosts a mixer for students in the undergraduate drama and Film & Television mixer to try and facilitate collaboration between the two departments. Students, however, feel that the school does not do enough in terms of facilitating cross-departmental connections. Calling the mixer “awkward,” “forced” and even “terrible,” they voiced their desire for real opportunities for collaboration. Tisch junior and film student Alex Sennett felt that these opportunities should be cultivated in class. “If they let you work with the actors in class so you could develop a relationship with them, that would be great,” he said. Tisch drama senior Emory Kemph similarly advocated for classes that combine majors. Her most recent on-screen work was for a film class for drama students, and while this gave drama students the opportunity to produce their own work, she regrets that the school does not offer courses which are set up to put film students behind the camera and acting students in front of it. While she has connected with some film students outside of class, exchanging contact information so that they could work together again, she definitely feels more could be done by the school to help foster these relationships. “There’s some encouragement from the professors to work with the film students, but from a practical perspective there’s no facilitation,” Tisch senior Jack
Petersen said. He mentioned the Tisch Talent Guild, an online portal “designed to help NYU Tisch Students find and collaborate with artists who can help bring their projects to life.” There are currently four listings on the site, calling for roles like a production assistant or a videographer. One listing is from the father of an NYU graduate, seeking a film student “in need of a class project.” Clearly, the site is not being used by Tisch students to seek collaborators. The other students interviewed had not heard of it or recognized the name but weren’t sure exactly what it was. “I’ve had way better luck getting work from Columbia MFA film students from their casting portal,” Peterson said. 2019 Tisch graduate Pao Malo noted that film students tend to draw from the same pool of actors for all of their projects. Tisch senior Braxton Fannin agreed. “Film students were often scared or even resentful of trained actors,” Fannin said. Sennet admitted that he finds most of his actors on Backstage, a popular platform for casting calls, or through friends of friends, and tends to default to the same handful of actors. “I have basically a pool of actors who I know I can go back to for anything and they’re all like good friends of mine besides just being actors,” he said. While Sennet said he is always looking to expand this pool, it can be difficult to make new connections. “There’s no real way to connect with actors that Tisch provides. You just have to meet them, outside of school,” he said.
KATIE PEURRUNG | WSN
The facade of the Tisch School of the Arts. Tisch Film & TV and drama students discussed their struggle to collaborate on projects.
“They post crew calls all over Tisch film, but they don’t do that for the actors.” This lack of facilitation reflects a greater deficiency of the school in preparing actors for real, on-set experiences. Peterson said that the preparation Tisch offers for on-set work tends to be more explanatory than experiential. “It’s definitely difficult to reproduce that experience at a super low budget in class and have it feel the same,” he said. Other drama students agreed that the
department often fails to provide students with these on-set experiences that could better prepare them for film acting, which offers far less rehearsal time and places different demands on the actor than a theater performance. “Knowing more than one aspect of the industry is crucial to be able to thrive in the professional world nowadays,” Malo said. While some were optimistic about opportunities for collaboration, others felt that, in such a large department, it is to
be expected that students have to seek out those opportunities themselves. “Sometimes I think it comes down to who you work well with, and that really can’t be facilitated by the department, nor would I want that,” Fannin said. “Just doing my own projects the way I wanted to do them, I eventually found my collaborators.” Email Julie Goldberg at jgoldberg@nyunews.com.