The Weeknd, After Hours | Album Review 💿

Two years after releasing his EP, My Dear Melancholy, The Weeknd returns with a truly compelling fourth studio album, After Hours.

After more than a three-year-hiatus between full-length projects, three-time, 🏆Grammy-winning R&B artist The Weeknd returns with his fourth studio album, 💿After Hours.  Between releasing 💿 Starboy (November 2016) and After Hours (March 2020), 💿Abel Tesfaye released the six-song EP, 💿 My Dear Melancholy, (March 2018).  Prior to its release, he released three compelling singles (🎵“Heartless”, 🎵“Blinding Lights”, and 🎵the title track), all of which prefaced what would end up being a truly intriguing, notably featureless fourth LP.

“Alone Again”

✅🎵“Alone Again” sets the tone of After Hours, commencing in incredibly moody, enigmatic fashion.  Clearly, narratively, The Weeknd is in a compromised state, a combination of loneliness (“I don’t know if I can be alone again / I don’t know if I can sleep alone again”) and drug use (“Check my pulse for second time / I took too much, I don’t wanna die”). Excess is key here, as he’s willing to pay for sex to atone for loneliness and overdosing on drugs.

On 🎵“Too Late,” listeners are blessed with more falsetto, but also more of Abel’s mid register.  Compared to “Alone Again,” “Too Late” is certainly groovier and perhaps not quite as heavy.  Still, that mood associated with the Canadian standout remains firmly planted. “It’s way too late to save our souls, baby,” he sings on the chorus, adding, “I made mistakes, I did you wrong, baby / It’s way too late to save my –.” Love continues to dominate on the quick-paced 🎵“Hardest to Love,” which blends R&B, pop, and elements of electronic music, particularly the beat.  Vocally, more so than “Alone Again” and “Too Late,” Tesfaye delivers quite the accessible vocal – not too many effects or doing anything too far-fetched or unexpected.

“Scared to Live”

After Hours is filled with gems, which is evident by the momentous opening trio. ✅🎵“Scared to Live” continues the sheer excellence, featuring some of The Weeknd’s most radiant vocals of the album. Furthermore, the production and sound are quite alluring. Musically, “Scared to Live” fuses pop, R&B, synthpop; it clearly hearkens back to the 1980s. Throw in an Elton John interpolation, in addition to a continual focus on the plight of love, this time, looking out for his ex, who he wronged and urging her, “…Don’t be scared to live again.” 

With a title like ✅🎵“Snowchild,” it should come as no surprise that The Weeknd references drug use. “I was singing notes while my niggas played with six keys / Walking in the snow before I ever made my wrist freeze,” he sings on the reflective first verse. As evidenced by those lyrics, “Snowchild” is more than drugs, though the 🎙Dizzy Gillespie line is pretty rad (“I was blowing smoke, had me ‘Dizzy’ like Gillespie”). He explores his childhood, coming up and becoming famous, and of course drip and sex. It’s another winning moment by all means. 

On the lengthy 🎵“Escape from LA,” The Weeknd becomes the latest musician to paint a negative view of Los Angeles. “Well, this place is never what it seems,” he sings on the chorus, later adding, “This place will be the end of me / Take me out LA / Take me out of LA.” Clearly, LA, ‘The City of Angels’ can actually be a deathtrap for a variety reasons, particularly the demons it can summon. Besides the negative effects it’s hard on Tesfaye, arguably, the main source of his disdain seems to be his various relationships tied with the city.  One of the most colorful moments of the song is a sexual encounter in the studio that the singer knows will, ultimately, only be temporary:

“She gon’ ride ‘til sweat fall down her spine
She’s all mine for the night
She’s all mine until he calls her line…”

“Heartless”

“I’ve been runnin’ through the pussy, need a dog pound / Hundred models getting’ faded in the compound.” The Weeknd remains true to self on ✅🎵“Heartless” – cold as ice!  He sings about the fast life, something that has dominated his work since the beginning.  He kicks off the first verse singing, “Never need a bitch, I’m what a bitch need, ” doubling down on the second verse: “So much pussy, it be fallin’ out the pocket / Metro Boomin turn this ho into a mosh pit / Tesla pill got me flyin’ like a cockpit.” Yep, that Abel Tesfaye to a T. Furthermore, he has incredibly sleek production to work with (🎙Metro Boomin and 🎙Illangelo). The beat pummels, hitting you right in the chest, while they synths are equally potent.  Combine that with confident, distinct, and unapologetic vocals from Tesfaye, and “Heartless” is nothing short of a surefire bop.

“I lost my faith / I’m losing my religion every day…” Losing religion has been a prominent theme in pop music for years and years.  It occurs on 🎙“Faith” where religion itself might be the least of The Weeknd’s issues.  Basically, he’s been consumed by his demons – love, sex, and drugs. There are a number of revealing lines on this vulnerable record, including “I’ve been sober for a year, now it time’s for me / To go back to my old ways…” and even more dramatic, “But if I OD, I want you to OD right beside me / I want you to follow right behind me…” Wow! 

“I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights / No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch / I said, ooh, I’m drowning in the night / Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust…” ✅🎵“Blinding Lights” commences enigmatically with a minor key before eventually settling into major and moody synths.  This is before the groove settles in, one of the biggest selling points. There’s plenty to heart about “Blinding Lights,” beginning with the pop/pop-rock/synthpop vibe. 🎙Max Martin, 🎙Oscar Holter and The Weeknd serve as producers. As always, Tesfaye delivers beautiful, nuanced vocals. With a straightforward form, the centerpiece is the aforementioned chorus, which connects with lyrics referencing blinding lights on the preceding record. Thematically, he focuses on love, relationships, and sex – familiar territory. Ultimately, it’s another winning effort.

“In Your Eyes” 

Following up a bop like “Blinding Lights” is tough.  No worries, The Weeknd has another infectious, totally groovy number via 🎵“In Your Eyes.”  Like so much of After Hours, “In Your Eyes” has incredible crossover appeal – it’s not merely a R&B record.  The pop sensibility on this, another 80s-tinged cut is amped-up to the nth degree.  The backdrop is magnificent: slick rhythmic guitars, smooth saxophone solo, and vintage horns. 

Follow-up 🎵“Save Your Tears” keeps that 80s nostalgia going strong, continuing to find Tesfaye embracing the gift of synthpop.  Vocally, he continues to take a victory lap.  The same could be said regarding the chorus, which instantly latches. 🎵“Repeat After Me (Interlude)” may have the ‘interlude’ parenthesized, but it’s a full-length record, north of three minutes in length.  Comprised of one verse sandwiched between the choruses, it’s another decadent, totally enjoyable piece of the pie.

“After Hours”

✅🎵“After Hours” is definitely a throwback for The Weekend, sounding like his ultra-moody music of the past.  At over six-minutes in length, it definitely runs long, but the vibe, vocal performance, and the production definitely compensate.  Making the dark, moody, minor-key production so satisfying are the cutting-edge synths and the infectious groove. Accomplished vocals, including potent falsetto, atop the backdrop, seal the deal. The theme, encompassing matters of the heart, further enhances the excellence.  He thrives on heartbreak, asserting on the second verse, “My darkest hours / Girl, I felt so alone inside of this crowded room / Different girls on the floor, distractin’ my thoughts of you / I turned into the man I used to be, to be.”  The crème de la crème – the crowning achievement – is the chorus which may be cliché but quite effective. Ultimately, Tesfaye is in his zone here, and that’s always a winning formula.

Following the lengthy title track, The Weeknd closes things out dramatically with 🎵“Until I Bleed Out.” “I wanna cut you outta my dreams / ‘Til I’m bleeding out / ‘Til I’m bleeding out,” he sings on the chorus, continuing, “I wanna cut you outta my mind / ‘Til I’m bleeding out / ‘Til I’m bleeding out.” Pessimistic, the case more often than not on After Hours, his pain is our pleasure – schadenfreude if you will.

Final Thoughts 

After Hours gives The Weeknd quite a thrilling fourth studio album.  He throws familiar themes to listeners, while also incorporating some conceptual, cinematic ideas and fully embraces crossover sensibilities stylistically.  Sure, After Hours is primarily a R&B album – that’s Abel’s lane – but incorporating the 80s, synth-pop sound works out exceptionally well for him.  You could make the argument that After Hours is more ambitious than his more commercial albums, 💿Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy. 

✅Gems 💎: “Alone Again,” “Scared to Live,” “Snowchild,” “Heartless”, “Blinding Lights” & “After Hours” 

🎙 The Weeknd • 💿 After Hours • 🏷 Republic • 🗓 3.20.20

[📷 : Republic]