FNGR FOOD

Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye has been in the hearts of music fans for years. The Canadian singer has been hitting home with his writing consistently since he first came on the scene, and fans were all really excited for his abrupt return that started to roll out in November of last year. Listeners had been waiting since 2016 for a new full-length project, and on March 20th, the world received After Hours, The Weeknd’s 5th studio album. Dawning a new look, and a refreshing yet nostalgic new sound, The Weeknd gets us all caught up to speed on what he’s been going through since his last 2018 EP, My Dear Melancholy,.

Four years after Starboy, The Weeknd has returned to explain what new pains he’s been experiencing as a lovesick star. After one of his first appearances with his new look at the “Uncut Gems” film premiere in September of last year, the world was once again buzzing about The Weeknd. Abel seemed to have fallen out the music industry spotlight, (likely by choice, to work on new music following personal drama) and came back with a brand-new single, “Heartless” at the end of November, 2019. The track “Heartless”, along with a second track, “Blinding Lights”, came out with accompanying visuals that show the insane world The Weeknd has been living in lately. Can we talk about the videos for a second? The Weeknd, and video director Anton Tammi brought us Michael Jackson-level visual storytelling in the year of 2020. The duo really captured the strange, and bone chilling details that you see in both 80’s film and music videos from that era. “Thriller” definitely comes to mind while watching the After Hours short film, as well as the latest video for “In Your Eyes” that released this morning. The nostalgic 80’s theme was very heavily represented throughout this album rollout and release. The video for “Heartless” seemed to have set the tone for what to expect on the album. The opening line of the song states that he doesn’t need a b****, he’s what a b****needs (although, on the album itself, The Weeknd is very lovesick, sad and vulnerable). We get a Metro Boomin- produced track that has a lot of energy, and a crazy video of The Weekend and the star producer parading around a seemingly empty, yet lively Las Vegas strip and casino that is lit up in every distant direction. On “Heartless”, The Weeknd writes about not being able to belong to one woman who could have his heart, because he’s without a pulse. With the money, the girls, and the drugs, The Weeknd shows himself speeding through his insane world in a very fast car, as he explains he has had no time nor the capacity to show any love. He feels like a low life because of all of this, and does confess that he’s actually not very good with being alone, but also struggles with being a better man because of his heartless ways. “Blinding Lights” was a perfect compliment track to “Heartless”, because just as the music video for this second single seems to continue the insane saga, The Weeknd talks more about not being able to sleep without his last lovers touch, and that he’s been going through withdrawals while being alone.

To briefly cover The Weeknd’s drama with dating, we all know the love lost, reconciled, and indefinitely lost again with model Bella Hadid; along with a 10 month relationship with singer Selena Gomez also thrown in the mix in the year 2017. These very public events in The Weeknd’s love life are more than likely what inspired a lot of the meat and potatoes of this album.

Upon the full release of After Hours, there was a lot to digest. There’s a lot of joyous and fun electronic production loaded with 80’s nostalgia. In conjunction with all the sad things The Weeknd is actually singing, it’s all very conflicting. Do we dance? Do we cry? Do we just dance and cry at the same time? These feelings produced by The Weeknd’s writing are very on-brand for the singer, and nothing shy of what we all should have expected.

With help from Swedish producers like Max Martin, and Oscar Holter, writers like Daniel Lopatin, Elton John, and Kevin Parker, After Hours took us through an emotional roller coaster about heartache, pain, and a sense of how overwhelmed the singer has been with his life up until this point. This album feels like a very open apology that The Weeknd has penned towards his past relationships, as well as a result of a crumbling world he’s been living in that he seems to want to be away from. On tracks like “Too Late” and the title track, “After Hours”, The Weeknd apologizes for making the mistakes he’s made towards someone who once loved him. He sings about missing having the warmth of someone he loved lying next to him, and at many points in the album, he fully acknowledges he’s the cause of the pain he may have inflicted on them. There’s heavy mentions of The Weeknd fessing up to being difficult to be with like on “Hardest To Love”, “In Your Eyes”, and “Save Your Tears”, where the singer explains that he knew his previous lover was hiding their pain and frustration while being with him with fake smiles as they tried holding on even when there was nothing to hold on to. On “Scared To Live”, The Weeknd explains selfishly not letting go of someone so that they may leave to be truly happy with someone that they deserve. He sings about them being able “escape to live again” with someone else rather than be wrapped up with him.

Aside from the regrets he’s had with his love life, listeners also got some insight on how Abel has been dealing with fame. On the track “Snowchild”, and “Escape From LA”, The Weeknd talks about how draining life has been since making it from nothing. He mentions that even though the dream was to make it California, and to have all the jewelry, and luxury things he could ever ask for, that now that he’s living this life he worked so hard to reach, it hasn’t even really been worth having all the things he now has, or all the superficial and temporary intimacies he’s experienced. The Weeknd seems at wits end, and talks a lot about just wanting to step away from it all; he only wants to be able to regain the love he once had, and feels lonely, and crazy without it. He talks about leaning on his vices to deal with his pain, as he often does with most of his music.

The track “Faith” really summarized the reckless path The Weeknd has been on, and it is honestly one of the saddest tracks on the album. Abel mentions having been sober for a year, only to end up going back to his old ways. In the song, The Weeknd said he’s lost his faith, and that he only feels pain while not on drugs. In the chorus, he sings “I feel everything, I feel everything from my body to my soul“, and that when he’s coming down is when he feels the most alone. Escaping from the pain is what The Weeknd ultimately feels will lead to an overdose at some point in time. Talks about cutting, bleeding, and relieving pain are also found in the closing track of the album, “Until I Bleed Out”, where he says that he doesn’t even want to get high anymore, and wishes he could cut memories of his last love out of his dreams and out of his mind. The Weeknd wishes to come down and to be able to feel again, rather than be paralyzed and numb to of all the pain, but he only continues to use things that can keep him from bleeding and hurting on the inside.

It was really difficult to hear that The Weeknd is going through these immense amounts of pain in his life, as usual. Him sharing these dark and emotional poems over very light-hearted and fun instrumentals is a gigantic parallel to the masking of all the truths of his situations. In the After Hours short film, we see The Weeknd walk off of his Jimmy Kimmel musical performance set with an eerie smile on his face that gradually fades into a sad and fearful expression as he goes into the lonely night. In the film, the realities of his pain set in again after he’s done with his performance, and he begins to lose his mind afterwards. It seems that the truth is The Weeknd is going crazy, and is leaning on his bad habits to get himself through it all. At the end of the day, Abel lives in the realities of his life in the After Hours.

The album is very beautifully and thoughtfully written. There are highs, and lows. There are somber lines to to relate to, and mesmerizing choruses. Most of all, the album was very alarming and saddening to sit through. The obvious message, is that Abel is in need of help, and yearns to be loved, and to feel love again. For now, it is unclear where his previous relationships stand, but it is clear he’s going through things. The musicians’ Instagram has been wiped clean of any past events, and has been fully taken over exclusively by After Hours and “Uncut Gems” content and promo. What’s next for The Weeknd seems to be revealed more and more as the singer shares more imagery from the album on a regular basis.

The Weeknd is set to start a world tour for After Hours with Sabrina Claudio, Don Toliver, and fellow XO Records recording artists, 88Glam, in June of this year.

Rating: 10/10

Favorite Track: “Save Your Tears”

You can listen to After Hours here:

After Hours (Deluxe):