06 | opinions
Apr. 4, 2018
OPINIONS MUSIC REVIEW
The Weeknd fails to evolve on new EP “My Dear Melancholy”
THE WEEKND, real name Abel Tesfaye, is a singer-songwriter from Toronto. “My Dear Melancholy” is his first major-label EP. It features production from Skrillex, Frank Dukes, Mike WiLL Made-It, and Gesaffelstein. PHOTO FROM REPUBLIC RECORDS
Parker Klyn Opinions Editor parker.klyn@drake.edu @parkerklyn Half the time I think The Weeknd is a generational talent, and the other half I think he’s one of the biggest buffoons in modern music. The Toronto singer-songwriter, real name Abel Tesfaye, has completed his meteoric rise from underground focus of intrigue to worldbeating pop star, yet his music has barely changed. It’s always been atmospheric, cacophonous R&B with synthetic beats and little in the way of musical color. But the star of the show is always
Tesfaye’s absolute stunner of a voice – a lilting, effortless falsetto that can switch between sensual, pained, or charismatic at a moment’s notice. The Weeknd has yet to release a full project that I have thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. His early “Trilogy” mixtapes were too ethereal to hit me hard – they didn’t have well-developed songs at their core. His first couple major label releases, “Kiss Land” and “Beauty Behind The Madness”, had some decent songs but in turn gave up the ethereal atmospherics of his early anonymous work. 2016’s “Starboy” is the closest thing to a solid album that The Weeknd has, but even that record was over-stuffed with uninteresting filler. What really sells me on The Weeknd’s talents are his features and collaborations. His guest appearances on massively popular mainstream hip-hop and pop albums consistently steal the show. “Love Me Harder” with Ariana Grande, “FML” with Kanye West, and “Pray 4 Love” with Travis Scott are all showstealing performances on truly
great records. And his best songs as a lead artist even come with popular collaborators – “Starboy” and “I Feel It Coming,” both with Daft Punk, are among the best pop songs to come out of that year. But when he’s solo, The Weeknd doesn’t really establish himself with that same seductive charisma. Instead, his “I’m gonna steal your girl” charisma turns into whiny boorishness and his production starts to blend together. With his latest release, the EP/mini-album “My Dear Melancholy,” The Weeknd won’t blow you away. But for the first time in years it sounds like his eyes and ears are set on something other than pop radio. “My Dear Melancholy,” with its six tracks, is an awkward length for a release. But a look at the collaborators and songwriters reveals that The Weeknd pulled no punches gathering the best possible people to explore his sounds. Frank Dukes, who has essentially become synonymous with spacious, Toronto trap&B, has credits on every track here. Songwriters include the chameleonic electronic producer
Nicholas Jaar, rapper Belly, industry mainstays Starrah and Cirkut, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Mike WiLL Made-It, Skrillex, and a visibily credited Gesaffelstein provide their services behind the boards. Unfortunately, there isn’t any pop gold on “My Dear Melancholy”. Instead of shooting for the stars, The Weeknd has opted for some low-stakes experiments and pleasant sounds that are better than his previous filler but don’t quite hit as hard as his best singles and features. Opener “Call Out My Name” is the most Weeknd song here. It’s a slow-jam torch song, with slicing guitars and an absolutely massive chorus. Tesfaye is still able to make his music sound huge, even if the sophomoric lyrics don’t match the musical weight. Speaking of, like most Weeknd projects, the lyrics and songwriting on “My Dear Melancholy” leave a lot to be desired. “Wasted Time” could have been a nice, classy dubstep jam, but it’s weighed down by horny, self-mythologizing latenight texts like “I know right now
we’re not talking/ But you know this d*** is still an option” and “I don’t wanna wake up if you ain’t laying next to me.” “Hurt You” has blissfully sweet backing synths and vocal melodies, but “If it’s love you want, don’t waste your time/ If you call me up, I’m f***ing you on sight” is gross. He doesn’t hit the sensual high notes he’s going for, unlike R&B pop contemporaries The-Dream and dvsn, and instead just sounds like someone you’d want to ignore. The-Dream and dvsn, in fact, are the two artists I kept coming back to when listening to this project. Both have been prolific in the style of music that The Weeknd makes over the last couple years, and neither have the same incredible vocal talents. What they do, in fact, have are great songs. And that, more than anything, matters in pop music. Abel Tesfaye might still be sad and horny, but that’s not an excuse for ignoring great songwriting. If he doesn’t figure that out, he’ll go down as one of the biggest musical what-ifs in modern pop.