By Samuel Rocha | Assignments Editor |
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is a singer/songwriter that has been making music since 2011 with his debut album Kiss Land in 2013. Over the years he has gained massive success in the music industry by having four number one singles on the Billboard Top 100 and nine singles in the top ten.
Recently The Weeknd has taken a small break from music for about two years until Nov. 27, 2019 where he released two singles in the same week, ‘Heartless’ and ‘Blinding Lights.’ Although ‘Heartless’ has had Billboard success having peaked at number one, I prefer ‘Blinding Lights’ due to it’s 80’s synth and catchy sound. But that’s not important right now, what’s important is the new single he dropped Feb. 19, ‘After Hours,’ and an album release date and title. On Mar. 20, 2020, his fourth studio album, ‘After Hours,’ will be released and it’s a day where the entire world will be on pause to hear Abel’s soothing voice talk about his heartbreaks and him being toxic.
Although having great success in music, he has gotten flack and negative feedback for changing into a pop star rather than sticking to his roots whenever he had released his mixtapes back in 2011. Songs like ‘Starboy’ or ‘I Feel It Coming’ have a very large pop influence and is a fun catchy song but doesn’t show his true colors. This new song though, it’s given me hope and excitement. After Hours is a song that uses his influence from his mixtapes all the way to his last album. He has taken his higher production from his new albums and put it with his song lyric topics from his mixtapes, its beauty to ones ears.
‘After Hours’ talks a lot about Abel feeling guilt and wanting to fix his mistakes he had made with a lover of his. “I turned into the man I used to be…” This can be inferred as if he has gone back to his old musical identity back when he had released his first album, ‘Kiss Land,’ and his heartless and toxic personality trait has returned. The chorus, “Where are you now that I need you most…” functions to manipulate her to bring her back one more time, therefore showing his toxicity at work.
Although the lyrics on this song are romantic, guilty, and regretful, the production on this song is a bit nostalgic bringing back elements from one of his old albums, ‘Trilogy.’ The spacey, yet loud beat is taken over by The Weeknd’s emotional vocals and the eerie build up to the beat drop.
‘After Hours’ is a wake up call for old and new fans of The Weeknd. The song is showing the people that he is back and has implemented all his elements from his music back in 2011 till now in 2020. I would recommend old and new fans of The Weeknd to give it a listen and I would also recommend music fans in general to take a moment and hear Abel at his best.
The title track, ‘After Hours’ is available on all streaming platforms and the album, ‘After Hours,’ is set to release on Mar. 20, 2020.