Wasted Times

Used to showing off sex appeal and bravado, The Weeknd allows himself to be openly insecure, wrestling with feelings that just might mimic real life romantic woes. His ex, with whom he is certain secretly feels the way he does, is not reciprocating his attention, and instead she continues to remain with another lover. The Weeknd shows a possessive side, even threatening “Don’t make me run up on em’, got me blowin’ up their spot”, and the crazy element at play here is the fact that this seems to be about Bella Hadid and the possibility of Drake being involved with her circa late 2017. Celebrity love triangles are all a part of the game, but the idea that partners-slash-rivals would allow a woman to get between them, supported by these suggestive shots taken by The Weeknd, really make “Wasted Times” feel topical and drama heavy. The odd part is, with all of the power and fame that these artists accrue, it is fascinating that they would need to share the same lover when there is literally a world of girls who would be happy to faithfully love The Weeknd or Drake, therefore, why do celebrities do this to each other? Valid questions since The Weeknd seems to be in his feels on this track, crying out like an electric god “Reminiscin’ how you felt.” He completely disavows his last girl, which could be a Selena Gomez reference, chalking up the moments since he left Hadid as all “Wasted Times.” Fans will eat this up.

The Weeknd is the best in the game when is comes to Toronto style sonic quality. He is the king of this vibe, because though he cloaks his voice with the an arsenal of carefully designed reverb weapons, within this holy final sound, you can distinctly hear a raw voice that does not need any filter whatsoever. He cloaks his voice for artistic purposes. The listener has no choice but to get lost in the trance of Abel Tesfaye’s hypnotic call. The carefully edited over-dubbing is sublime, weaved into a percussion heavy melody with minimal synths and a low, warped bass line. The vocals are distant, echoey, but prominently utilized, as if they are supporting instruments.

He might as well be the real 6 God, because Tesfaye can vibe and sing in an untouchable way, consequently doing more for the regional sound than his only slightly more famous contemporary. That the two have maintained distinctive lanes in the industry is most likely the reason that the relationship has survived as long as it has. For there to even be a suggestion of a shared lover in Hadid signifies that beyond the spontaneity of lust, the reason more likely is an excursion of one man’s power over another man’s power. The Weeknd, international overlord of dark and drugged out romance, is wounded, angry, and thirsty. He sounds as if he is willing to sacrifice all in the storming of Troy to win back his Helen. Truly, this is a deeply felt and depressing track, which casts the dark Weeknd in a different light.