Not sure if you're familiar with Oneohtrix Point Never's work but I've been saying everywhere his production is a big part of this album's strengths. He co-produces on most songs and I think most of the synth magic can be attributed to him. Plus his last album (which is also great and featured Weeknd on a song) is also a loosely transcendental radio station concept journey. Much more experimental listen but it's really cool to see his style being applied to pop formulas.

The losing faith is a call back to Faith from his After Hours album. And I imagine REM is meant as double meaning of the band and rem sleep. He does that a lot.

Skye what you were saying about him being a broken man who hurts people. Yeah that's true but I see that you present the lack of a moral compass as a criticism of music plenty times and honestly I disagree with that. I don't believe any type of art has to have a morally righteous protagonist. It just needs to be honest. The Weeknd provides that naked honesty about his life and his experiences in his music to a point which is almost unseen in any mainstream genre. I think what's needed is that the story should he compelling even if it has the villian in the lead role. About promoting harmful practices, I believe that it's not an artist's responsibility to raise anyone's kids, he's a musician and all he has to do is make good music and tell intresting stories through it. More so the responsibility of understanding that the music is simply telling a story and not letting your life get influenced by it, is on the listener.

Really appreciate your reviews! Also that "losing my faith/religion" is also a reference to a song on after hours. Pls do listen to after hours too, it's like the first part

If u don’t like The Weeknd making cocaine references don’t listen to the trilogy….

This is the first Weeknd album I loved front to the back. Oneohtrix Point Never's influence (and Daft Punk's influence) was ever present and it was wonderful

I'd love for you to do a review for After Hours. That album is gorgeous and tells a much more detailed story about his love life and his relationship with Los Angeles.

As an album, I think you'll be even more surprised by Kiss Land, it's also conceptual and very cohesive, but it's more poetic, there are songs with no choruses, songs with very long intros or totally random structures. The sound is also taken from the 80's, but more Phil Collins meets Bladerunner type of 80's.

You just discovered/had your eyes open to a The Weeknd and I have just discovered your channel. What a super enjoyable/eloquent and insightful review. I have subscribed and look forward to watching more of your reviews. As a long time Weeknd fan, I have to say that the “Is The Weeknd Robert Downey Jr” is a question we have all asked ourselves. What a genius move by him to create this character, that lives a life most people are intrigued by but would never want to actually be part of. Abel is a huge culture nerd: music, cinema, literature and the visual arts. If you delve further into his work you’ll discover a tonne of references. His songs can often be interpreted in different ways as you discovered with Take My Breath. It IS about all the rings you mentioned at once-I read about it in an interview he gave last year. The R.E.M losing my faith line in Gasoline will make sense when you listen to After Hours. Looking forward to more Weeknd reviews in the future!

I love the way you express your points, I truly feel like i'm learning new interesting stuff while I understand better why I like or dislike pieces of music and performance. A hug from Colombia.

i love how much thought goes into your reviews, i always learn something from them even if it is an album i am very familiar with

I love this album too! Keep up the good work professor

TRON LEGACY PLEASEEEEEE KISS LAND BY THE WEEKND PLEASEEEEEE

Skye's experiences are his own, and it sounds like he just had the temperament to be scared of cocaine. But that was a personal quirk of his. I'm not sure its accurate by any stretch of the imagination for him to say that being FOR or AGAINST cocaine is a generational thing, with 80's teens being AGAINST and younger millennials being FOR. In fact, I think by most reasonable people's understanding, it's the inverse. Millennials were encouraged to avoid crack and cocaine like the plague, just as we were encouraged to avoid smoking cigarettes. To the extent that movies like the Hangover depicted cocaine use, it was never with an eye towards celebrating the characters but lampooning them. The same can not be said for movies in the 80's and early 90's.

I'm so glad I found your channel. This is probably the most interesting take I've heard on this album so far. The narrative you created with this review was amazing. And I promise that the rest of his discography doesn't disappoint! He's always been this great at what he does, in fact, this album is one of my least favourites of his, which only speaks to the quality of his catalogue. I strongly suggest you check it out ❤

The video content is so excellent, congratulations

Loved this review, I stupidly waited until a few days ago to listen to this album and now I’m obsessed. I had similar ideas about the Weeknd (when I was in grade school I just associated his name with “cheap music I don’t like”), so realizing this album is a GDMP was rather humbling. Loved this review, great point about Quincy Jones. I also like that when you think out loud we can see you always crafting or defending a thesis.

As crazy as it sounds "After Hours" is better (though that's not shade to "Dawn FM" which is a fantastic album). He has very self-aware, often times uncomfortably self-deprecating, style of music and it's easy to tell after listening to him (AH was the first album of his I listened to) how much of The Weeknd is on Drake's supposedly seminal project "Take Care" lol

Great person and great review. Thank you.

You are not losing your mind. The Weeknd is a huge cinefile

great review!

Always love your thoughtful reviews and stories you create. A couple notes. RDJ got more addicted during the filming of Less Than Zero, he wasn’t the exaggerated version of Julien until after (that’s what I remember reading anyway). Also Juliane wasn’t the villain of the story, Rip was. I don’t think Juliane was a dirtbag, he had a problem and he broke hearts. But I watched that movie when I was 10 I felt so bad for Juliane. He didn’t want to be that person. Also, addicts does not equal dirtbags. Sure some are, but lots aren’t. Finally Less Than Zero is a reference to worth, Juliane felt like he was less than zero. Addicts tend to think they are worthless.

You should learn about Daniel Lopatin (aka oneohtrix Point Never, or credited on dawn FM as just OPN). I think every word you said about max Martin here should really be directed at him. He is clearly the one who has shepherded the weeknd into this 80s synth sound that this album has. Just listen to his music and read about him and you'll understand why. Unlike Max Martin he is one of the most interesting and unusual artists of the last 15 years. His background couldn't be more different than Max's, and I think it will really change your perspective on the context of this album.

okay now you need to listen and review After Hours lol

Thank you for introducing me to “less than zero”. It helped me get a better perspective on The Weeknd’s artistic vision.

Just finished the video, I think that you should really go back in his discography and make a series of videos on it because I honestly believe the Weeknd is one of the most important artists on this generation. He will definitely be regarded on the level of Kanye type of artistry. This was not a one-off, the level of artistry has been there since the very first House of Balloons mixtape.

I remember the first time I watched less than zero. It was hauntingly beautiful. I watched Roberts fall from grace and reemergence, which I never thought would happen as I was watching it. I love your comparison between Abel and Robert. Honestly, I never would’ve looked at them or this album in that way. Thank you for drawing the comparisons in this way. I’m glad I was alive to see Roberts life to understand because this will completely go over the heads of this generation. Cheers

Oneohtrix point never produced a lot of this album. It’s crazy where inspiration was pulled from for this album. There’s a lot of daft punk influence, and, at least in gasoline, it sounds like mount kimbe maybe inspired it a little bit, or at least some of the sound pallet.

Sad that you fell into the US propaganda of demonizing coke addicts versus criticizing the US government systemic funding of the Contra's drug trade in the past as well as its lack of rehabilitation of drug addicts due to poor infrastructure. Hopefully you changed your mind. Anyways, Dawn FM is great 👍

Man, I can assure you that "After Hours" is another GODAMN MASTERPIECE. You HAVE to listen to it. Not to mention his first album "Trilogy", wich contains some of the darkest and most beautiful pieces of pop music made in the last decades.

This album is a continuation of after hours I think you should hear that and watch the videos (heartless>blinding lights> blinding lights snl>after hours short film>in your eyes> too late>save your tears>until I bleed out>snowchild) as this is a continuation of the story of that album His prior material yeah not all of it is morally correct but it’s super honest and raw which nobody else in pop or rnb takes to such a level id say this generation knows the pitfalls of cocaine and crack, weeknd a music is known for being super dark and bleak, that’s why I can’t feel my face is genius because he’s putting these dark themes into a huge hit on the radio. Throughout his discog you see the progression of his character and actual person. He was homeless for years in Toronto which shaped a lot of his initial sound. The Tyler verse is about he’s playing a character oppposite to the weeknd. Weeknd on gasoline isn’t really putting on an accent he’s just singing in a low register and enunciating the way some post punk bands did in the 80s and 90s He’s influenced by daft punk but I wouldn’t say it’s super similar except the revivalist aspect and robotic vocals because it incorporates a lot of 80s sun genres into it even into the way he pronounces certain words like “your love for allure in the night” in sacrifice. A lot of synth wave, chamber pop, etc etc. also max Martin isn’t the mastermind behind the production it’s a whole team, illangelo is the one who’s worked on damn near all his songs. Swedish house mafia and oneohtrix point never also were big parts of the magic here. Love your channel a lot just a few things to point out Also if you review weeknd again please stop mentioning micheal Jackson every other line people have done that so much Great review though

I said the exact same thing about this being the best follow-up to Random Access Memories. I'd love to see him take a break from Max Martin and work with someone like Gregg Alexander.

I swear I'll subscribe if you do an after hours review.

I don’t think the album suffered from “drakeism” at all. There were 2 interludes with a tale by Quincy and every angel is terrifying (kind of) and then there was phantom regret by jim and also dawn fm. There were only 12 real songs

You should tackle after hours !

Please tell me the 'sloppy steaks' throwaway around 10:30 was a reference to ITYSL

i swear i thought of you first time i listened!!!

Could you please give pure comedy by Father John Misty a listen ?

Professor Skye I would love it if you’d review Death Dynamic Shroud’s I’ll Try Living Like This

i really hope u branch out into artists older music sometimes itd be really interesting to watch

finally he got a better mic

I wouldn't be surprised if Jacob's Ladder was a major influence on this album as well

I believe that one crucial thing you haven't pointed out in your review is this : in the begining of the track ' every angel is terrifying" the weeknd is actually reading the first words of Rilke's first elegy .

As Ethiopian don't fill bad for us. The only country in Africa never coloniesd. The birth place of coffee. The birth place of mankind One of Ancient civilization in the world. One of 8th countries with their own letters and numbers. Ancient history of Christianity and Islam. A country with its own callnder (it's 2014 in Ethiopia) People with different and beautiful skin cooler. A people with own music philosophy (Abel is highly influenced by Ethiopian music and musicians as a kid.) A country with a diverse geographical area(worlds lowest place is in Ethiopia called Dalol) Try to know more about Ethiopia. Abel's people.

20:50 see track 8 on after hours

Yes bro listen to After Hours. It's like a prequel to Dawn FM.

You're the first one pointing out finally that the ‘take my breath’ line is weird af in those days

I’ve been a big fan of The Weeknd since 2011, when House of Balloons came out. I saw him live in 2012 and again in 2022, when Dawn FM came out. Watching his transformation from virtually unknown to international superstar has been astounding. I paid maybe 50 bucks to see him front row, then 10 years later paid a couple hundred to see him in the nosebleeds. Either way, the man never disappoints

Please listen to House Of Ballons

Daniel Lopatin/Oneohtrix point never is the Quincy of this album.

Sounds like The Fam has a heavy influence on which music you like.

This is one of the most creepiest albums I've heard without being overtly disturbing. They tapped into the stylized emptiness and dread akin to Black Mirror. This was nowhere near as deliberate and powerful like his usual stuff. There's no reason for him to do a conceptual album being he's already enigmatic. This album felt hopeless and evil.

I feel like most trauma / addiction / asshole behaviour (hurt people hurt people) / narcissism in people comes from abandonment behaviour of the parents (non-engaging in the child / betrayal / divorce) and it's a vicious circle and if this is continuously fed by media it's never going to end. I'm honestly sick of that narrative and thank god for someone like Kanye trying to change that narrative and also speaking about the role of the media (though unfortunately divorce is happening to him too atm). Lines like ’This my kids, this the crib. This my wife, this my life. This my God-given right. Thank You, Jesus, won the fight.’ is so beautiful but so rare which is fucked up.

I think you should leave is goated. Great video

Bruh😭 I didn’t know you reviewed Dawn. And damn man you got it right 2 years ago. He's becoming Abel.. Another Album third act is otw where he'll be Abel. The Weeknd the character will be peaced😭 Damn you are reall The Professor💥

"Hurt people hurt people" Kendrick really lifted quotes from Professor Skye

GDMP

After Hours isn’t my favorite Weeknd album, but the song ‘After Hours’ is one of his best GDMP But I’m assuming you’ve already listened at this point