How to Use an Electronic Tuner

When listening to The Weeknd’s new album Beauty Behind The Madness, it’s apparent that the quality of work since his previous album Kissland has vastly improved. Kissland missed its mark, but Beauty Behind The Madness does not. It captures the raw, hazy sounds of Trilogy (an album made of The Weeknd’s first three mixtapes) and makes it more palpable for a mainstream audience which Kissland couldn’t quite deliver upon.

That’s not to say that The Weeknd has abandoned his signature sound that garnered his huge following. Beauty Behind The Madness is the Weeknd taking his song writing to a new level, while still incorporating his dark, alternative r&b style and his often-all-too-direct lyrics, and siren-like voice.

The album opens with “Real Life”, with sirens blaring, and bass boomin’. This song sets the tone for what is to come in the album. The song is loud, introspective & revealing, and completely unapologetic. The Weeknd recounts the words of his mother, his “real life”, his destructive nature, without shame. “Real Life” mixes elements from The Weeknd’s previous sound and mixes them elements like strings and background choir vocals. What stands out about the track is that although the track has it’s somber moments, it’s not overly-brooding, which could be said of The Weeknd’s past work, but rather poignantly self-reflective.

The next track “Losers” features British singer/songwriter Labrinth and his smooth voice. Speaking of which, that’s exactly what “Losers” is: smooth. While the song opens up with The Weeknd’s voice singing softly over a clap beat and piano melody, that song evolves into something much grander. Wailing guitar melodies, a bumpin’ beat, shimmering electronic effects and a grand horn section turn this track from simple song into something you would hear on a Broadway production.

“Tell Your Friends”, featuring production from Kanye West, was released by The Weeknd in video form ahead of the release of Beauty Behind The Madness. The track itself, for the most part, is very minimalist, featuring a very smooth, jazz influenced instrumental. The Weeknd’s voice shines on “Tell Your Friends”, as he sings about himself, and what he does best (drugs, sex, and music). However, The Weeknd manages to incorporate moments of self-reflection in there as well. The song closes out with the a guitar solo, piano chords, and warped vocals.

The next two songs, & were previously released as singles for the album, with “Often” being released during the summer of 2014, and “The Hills” being released during the summer of 2015. Both songs feature The Weeknd singing about girls, sex, and a plethora of drugs. Often” is very reminiscent of the Abel’s past work from Trilogy, but in a way that is far catchier. The same can be said of “The Hills” as well. The lyrics in both songs are much more blunt that the previous songs before it on album, with the Weeknd holding back on wordplay and being extremely direct.

However, the following song, “Acquainted”, is a mix both direct lyrics and wordplay. The Weeknd sings of “getting acquainted” with a girl, “touching” her, and possibly even falling for this girl. The Weeknd opens up more about his mother at a certain point during the song. The instrumental sounds like a standard Weeknd song, but the song gets hazier and psychedelic towards the end. This song marks a change in The Weeknd’s songwriting, as he’s wording his lyrics to get his point across, but somehow manages to put his own version of a pop-spin on it.

“Can’t Feel My Face” introduced the world to how The Weeknd can channel his inner-Michael Jackson. ’nuff said.

“Shameless” is a an acoustic track with some slight bass and a blistering guitar solo. The Weeknd shows off his vocal abilities flawlessly. It might be a surprise that the Weeknd would have an acoustic song on his album, but it shouldn’t be since he was featured on  no less.

“Earned It” was originally released through the Fifty Shades of Grey Soundtrack and became a massive success for The Weeknd. He sings beautifully, and eloquently, trading his rougher lyrics for some more radio-friendly/mainstream lyrics, but without losing the signature sound that makes Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd.

Right off the bat, “In The Night” sounds like a Michael Jackson song, from the the arrangement of the song to Abel’s vocal delivery. While the vocal melodies are very reminiscent of Michael Jackson, the track’s production sounds very modern featuring synths, bass, and background electronic samples. In contrast the song “As You Are” has the sound of a Michael Jackson track, without accompanying vocal melodies. Of all the songs on Beauty Behind The Madness, “As You Are” stands out the least.

“Dark Times” opens up with a twangy guitar chords, and surprisingly British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran’s voice. The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran seem like a strange combo, but both of them flow very well together, playing off each other’s voices.The song sounds like a jam session between Ed and Abel. Sheeran delivers one of his most soulful performances, and The Weeknd, without question, does the same. Abel opens much more than usual on “Dark Times” and it shows in the lyrics. Easily one of the best songs on Beauty Behind The Madness. 

The track, “Prisoner”, includes a feature from Lana Del Rey. The song itself has that familiar hazy Weeknd feel, and Lana Del Rey fits perfectly into that sound. Both singers show off their vocal ranges here, holding back during the verses, and really belting it out during the chorus. Lana Del Rey manages to compliment Abel’s voice all the while still fitting into the mood of the song.

The closing track of the album “Angel” is a ballad of sorts. The song starts with a choir chanting singing some vocals followed by an arrangement that sounds like its right out of a Guns ‘N Roses power ballad. However, this is all contrasted by The Weeknd’s smooth vocals. There’s a lot going on in this song from the strings, to the drums, the guitars, accompanying vocals (from Maty Noyes), and even a children’s choir at the end. The song builds up to the climax and concludes beautifully. This song is completely different that any of The Weeknd’s previous material. It’s grand, it’s layered, and it’s down right beautiful.

The Weeknd’s album Beauty Behind The Madness has easily been one of the most anticipated albums on the year. The question at this point isn’t “Will the album live up to the hype?” or “Will The Weeknd be able deliver a successful album?”, but rather “Will the world embrace The Weeknd as the superstar he has the potential to be?”

Regardless of the outcome, it seems as though the Weeknd is ready to take the world hostage with his vocal charm, harems of women (and plenty of guys trying to bank off The Weeknd’s seduction skills) at a time.

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