After Hours - The Weeknd: Review
AKA Abel Tesfaye is a Toronto based R&B singer who rose up as a member of the Drake headlined OVO collective in the early 2010's. While his first three mixtapes were massive critical successes and have become fan favorites he really made his mark commercially with back to back mega hit records in 2015 and 2016. Beauty Behind The Madness and Starboy not only became huge hits in their own right but fully solidified Abel's massive influence over modern R&B, and so many who have emerged in the genre over the past decade owe some big time influence to his sound.
Review By Lavender:
There's no way I could possibly hide my long running love for Abel's music as The Weeknd. I called House Of Balloons my 22nd best record of the entire last decade, and its title track House Of Balloons/Glass Table Girls my #9 song of the entire last decade. Not to mention Starboy, The Hills and Call Out My Name getting big spots on previous year end lists. But one thing that I feel like Abel hasn't done since 2011 with House Of Balloons is put out a truly great record that holds up from start to finish. Despite a near constant stream of great singles he just ever quite knocked it out of the park with an album the same way he did with his debut mixtape. But Beauty Behind The Madness was better than Kiss Land, and Starboy was better than Beauty. So just as the story goes After Hours is better than Starboy and it's Abel's best studio album yet.
Just like always the singles for this record we're absolutely excellent starting with Heartless. The Metro Boomin produced banger got this era off to a very hot start with a song that absolutely bangs with a heavy crushing instrumental and an insanely catchy hook. Abel is charismatic as hell in his vocal performances and his bars really stick which made the song a favorite of mine last year. Blinding Lights was the second single and despite being my least favorite of the three I still think the song is really good. It's a glitzy catchy pop tune but despite its massive popularity I continue to enjoy the catchy refrains and bouncy synthesizers.
The track that sent my hype for the record into the stratosphere was the incredibly title track After Hours, one of the best songs and singles I've heard all year. The track throws it back to Abel's first three mixtapes in the absolute best way as a six minute multi-phazed R&B odyssey. The track has an icy dark sound palette with a distant but driving instrumental that is utterly intoxicating. But on top of this Abel's vocal performance is absolutely show-stopping and his refrains bounce between gentle and passionate with nothing but success every which way. As if this wasn't enough Abel played a then unreleased song live on SNL and it absolutely ruled. The track we now know is Scared To Live is yet another absolutely excellent song that sounds even better here on the record with soaring lead vocals as Abel once again makes his moments in the spotlight count.
Thankfully there are some excellent tracks here that go beyond just the singles on the record. Too Late is one of the slickest and sexiest tracks here where the percussion just absolutely pops off the mix, like an instrumental version of this track would absolutely bop. But on top of that great instrumental Abel sings some tight refrains with his trademark swagger that just wraps everything up nicely. Hardest To Love was a refreshing track that sounds like a trip hop song of all things with a jittery electronic beat and a beautiful catchy performance from Abel. The track is great at its core but made even better with the glistening production that absolutely rules. In Your Eyes isn't the Peter Gabriel cover I hoped it may be but nonetheless is another excellent track. It's much more of a pop angle but it works perfectly as the breakdown into the hook is catchy and fun which turns the track into a precise little electro pop love song.
Snowchild is a true trap ballad with the rattling high-hats and dramatic vocal refrains. Abel goes full on Drake as he bounces between love for his homies and the money in his bank account to lyrics about his distraught teenage years and his sad feelings. Faith has another beat that hits hard as fuck but sees Abel a bit more measured in his performance. While the song isn't necessarily as catchy as some of the best tracks here the relentless beat and winding structure do more than enough to keep me engaged.
One of the issues I know people are going to have with this record are that some of the tracks are basically just a vibe that hags around for a while or sets up other tracks. Both the intro track Alone Again and the closer Until I Bleed Out fall under this umbrella but at least in the context of this record I think they manage to serve their purpose. Particularly the closer does a great job of bringing all the chaos of the record to a fitting close. Another issue I see people having is with the three minute interlude track repeat After Me. Given that the track features production from Kevin Parker of Tame Impala as well as Oneohtrix Point Never it does seem a little bit plain. But the song does have some very pretty sonic effects in its wheelhouse and even though there isn't a strong semblance of song here there is still something to love about it.
I wouldn't really consider any of those tracks duds, but the record does have one stumble and one outright faceplant. Save Your Tears is the stumble and its really just a pop tune so generic that it feels like it doesn't belong on a record from an artist of Abel's caliber. His singing is the only thing I really enjoy and the rest of the track is totally forgettable. Escape From LA is the faceplant and a song I can't believe made it onto a record this popular. The track has so little going on and it all develops so slowly, plus the song builds up and builds up to this potential climax before stopping short and then returning to the same refrain it has been beating to death. It's a six minute long tease with no relief to be found that is a difficult hill to climb right in the middle of this record.
While the tracklist of After Hours is bloated there is far to much fantastic material here to enjoy. Despite the fact that I am still a little disappointed to see underwhelming songs in the tracklist here Abel has taken great strides towards making his deep cuts more interesting and it shows here. This record may not stop you in its tracks more than two or three times but it is sneaky good and I find myself really enjoying most of it. While this isn't the all time amazing album that we all know Abel is capable of, it is the best full length work he has put out since his legendary trilogy of mixtapes in 2011 and I think it could set him up to do something even greater next. 8/10
