The Weeknd

He opens the album with a rather blunt and sinister track "Professional" and gets straight to the point. It gives you an insight as to what you're in store for with Kiss Land. Though not far from his last mixtape, he added some flair to make it sensational: "So, you're somebody now, but what's a somebody in a nobody town?" Abel asks, assuring that he won't be getting so sentimental with his subjects. The track slide between changing R&B backdrops and textures, gaining momentum, and ending with some crisp strings. One track in, it looks like The Weeknd has already produced a powerful mini-album, and with an excellent introduction, the record rapidly progresses into darkness. "The Town" is a legitimate follow-up to "Professional”, a dusky, midtempo musing from Tesfaye that reinvents itself many times over its five-minute runtime. On this track, he's not playing the bad guy. He reflects on a woman of his past whom he took for granted. He didn't want to continue with their reckless lifestyle. "You made me feel so good before I left on the road," he sings to a lost lover, whose absence leaves him tormented. This is a tantalizing track of which I'm sure female fans will enjoy. They'll close their eyes and imagine that he's uttered the words "You did many things that I liked. You deserve your name on a crown" to them. The intro and outro mixed with the chime filled verses mid-track give a song with a subtle flowing variation.

With "Adaptation," The Weeknd sets out to see what he can do with his voice. Also, his despairing, pain-filled voice brings the listener in on how tour life has made him sacrifice genuinely loving a woman; The deep background vocals haunt the listener and remind The Weeknd of the life he gave up to pursue fame. Talking of The Weeknd's usual tropes, "Love in The Sky" is the album's most erotic slow jam, accompanied by heavy drums. The sound effects of rain and lightning set a very dark and intimidating environment that is softened by his vocals making it a catchy track that is easier on the listeners' ears and one which has the simplicity similar to those from his previous record. This track particularly stands out to me! It shows a new found sexual desperation in which Abel talks to the woman in the last verse rather than describing the erotic encounters we are used to hearing him repeat. Where Trilogy showcased a man on his way to fame, the follow-up serves as the outcome of that same man getting exactly what he wants. Abel Tesfaye sings while keeping his honesty intact over a seductive beat.

Clearly, the first four songs of Kiss Land were building up to this moment. "Belong to the World" is the big, up-tempo, manifesting around a skittering industrial beat. Talking of a gold digger in a somewhat different way to Kanye West, this track is one for those who enjoy belting out sing along and enjoy the full strength that The Weeknd's voice can offer his listeners. Foul play or not, this song affirms that The Weeknd has made meaningful improvement from his mixtape, Trilogy; it's more muscular and direct, precisely what you'd hope for on a major label debut. "This the shit that I live for. With the people, I die for. This is shit you can't get a fake dog. This is shit you need God for." Drizzly rhymes as Tesfaye sings in a line of true crew love that's echoed by Drake in his guest spot, it's the perfect moment for a word from the man who first introduced The Weeknd to the music world; the track inhabits a smoky nether-region between rap and R&B, which fits Drake's persona completely. The Weeknd he speaks of his annoyance of how people are advising him on how to live but how those in the xo team are just living a young and prosperous life. He seems to be OK as he drowns his issues in sexual escapades with strippers and groupies, the singer outlines the upswing of being who he is.

"Wanderlust" is the seventh Kiss Land track; it sounds more commercial than anything else on Kiss Land. The track grooves along at a pop/rock pace and proves that you can dance to a Weeknd track after all. Though almost mocking girls who dream big about love, these are the same girls who no doubt will be dancing to this record at house parties. He's a singer who often evokes late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, but here, he imitates MJ's craft in more than vocal riffs. The album's title track was the first release from the collection and happened to be the longest. The album starts to devolve back from access to the haze of sprawling, contorting epics that it opened with. It comes at the listener in two dimensions with a series of screams and dark sounds which reflects Abel's intent to create a horror story, recreating that ‘under the influence' feeling that his kinds of music often evoke. The last track "Tears in the Rain," reveals the emotions girls have for him due to the many hearts he has broken through a drug and alcohol-fuelled life, leading to females either using him or hating him. He doesn't know what the good things about himself and his personality are anymore. It's as if he's been living in the horror story that is Kiss Land and now he's ready to reveal his fears and more of himself to his fans. Though many questions remain unanswered, this track is a perfect way to ease listeners out of Kiss Land.

“Losers” is one of my favourite songs on the album because it touches a continuous debate about equating education with success. Only this time, The Weeknd was on the side of those who don’t believe in that school of thought that Education equates to school. He flips the beat and goes ok, “we didn’t get the education, at least not from a qualified tutor, now we’re here, we’ve lived our life on our means, we’ve taught ourselves how to do things, so who do we owe it to?” Obviously has to be to himself and his team, as he was a high school drop out at 17 and only got his break after 3 years, after also convincing his producer to also drop out with him so they could pursue the dream together. This little research I did on him also put a quote from an interview across my phone screen about him only being happy when he was high. This was more of a contemporary song and the lyrics were more conversational rather than telling a story or proving a point, which was quite impressive as regards that that concept was kind of rare and only quite a few gifted songwriters can come up with such content. Labrinth added life to the song with his sound, which I suspect was entire produced by him, he is currently revered as a Contemporary sound genius to which I concur. The song practically made me look towards the rest of the album and what it had to offer; to the very last track.

“The Hills” has to be every junks favourite The Weeknd’s song as it brings out self-reflection about self-destructive habit; drug usage. The Weeknd has not been shy to confirm is use of drugs in interviews, his music, lyrics and album titles as well. Although this song may seem like a double entendre; being in love, or could be being on drugs. It was the music video I watched before I got to have the audio, it was only until I got the audio I got to listen to the lyrics properly. Before then, all I knew was “When I’m fucked up that’s the real me, When I’m fucked up that’s the real me”, which to me seemed like a drug use song. It was later I realized it was a love song which wasn’t really about love, rather it was one of a man look for sex without baggage; friends with benefit kind of guy, seeking to maintain the status of that relationship, rather than take it up the next level. The beat and composition of the song had the feel of “All the time in the world” to make the song. Although the song had little content, it was able to pass enough messages for you to know what he was all about on the song, for one who pays attention to the verses, which was delivered in a sluggish under the breath kind of tone. Thus, most people still think the song is all about drug usage.

The beginning to “Acquainted” was what got stuck on it, not forgetting the energy in his first line “BABY YOU’RE NO GOOD” got me like, ok, who hurt this young man. The Weeknd didn’t really pen a lot in this song, 4 or 5 lines for verse one and then a pre-chorus, another four of five lines, which to me is just lazy writing. He could have easily done more or made the song a bit more interesting if he had added more lines to his verses to complete the story or picture, he was trying to paint about the lady that wasn’t healthy for him. He just has a way of dragging lyrics for entire 3 minutes; I guess everyone has what works for them at one point or another. The album is quite good, and the sound was much better because it won the Grammys’ Best Urban Contemporary Album award at the 58th Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Album of the Year award in the same year. It was successfully commercial also as it sold 326,000 copies in the first week and maintain the number one position for 3 weeks in a row, since Taylor Swift’s 1989 held that record.